Halo ME:The Gateway to Revelation
by Evident Disaster
Summary: The age of the UCAF has turned through the war against the covenant, and now it seems fate has brought another factor into an already volatile universe. Event 14, the arrival of the support fleet and the start of the real campaign against the Covenant. But it seems someone's made the first move, Autumn and his team finds themselves in the midst of chaos on the Quarian fleet. CH14
1. Event 1

Event 1- The Path is Set

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(This is a rewrite to the whole story, I find that this is necessary, due to the fact that I had not written Gateway with any consideration of the actual characters supposed to be involved, and also the plot was heavily random, I didn't even plan it out after ch6 it didn't even exist, so I'm going to do this right and do it properly to the canon base I made for this universe. I promise to give it a better shot this time, also thanks to all those who had supported this in the past, but those chapters won't count once this comes into play.)

Also I'd like to present you guys with the largest fire fight in the history of the galaxy, operation Reclamation!

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(Word of warning, this is rather required to be read if you want to understand what's happened, this isn't absolutely relevant and thus you can ignore it, but I wouldn't recommend it if you don't know the UCAF history. So it's your decision, I'm not stopping you, just consider it.)

_UCAF chronological data- ACCESS GRANTED_

_Date of admission- Published 2221- Updated 2521- Modified 2555_

_/Memo/ -Dr Valerie E Haley  
>To those who read this chronological archive of the UCAF you may require to read the UCAF foundation records and past ICA records in order to understand this, please note that all archives were accessed and modified by me, and any confidential data seen may or may not be factual as there have been continuity issues through the UCAF archives since 2399. All data regarding specific structures and organisations will be recorded in their own separate sections, please also note that this shares archived data on past organisations and records involving the military, economic and historic events and timelines. This information must not be allowed to fall into unwarranted hands due to the sensitivity of the information. <em>

_To those who read this, the future is not set, however the past is, heed this warning, and do not make the same mistakes… _

_/END/_

_Index Archives_

_Factions: Note that some may not exist while others may have disbanded_

_In the beginning of the new colonies of the Nova Stratus region, there were over 80 known factions in control of the region of space; throughout 2221 the UCAF recorded the 8 main power factions:_

_Pop: 46 billion, 890 worlds, unknown amount of systems_

_Imperial Arcadian Empire: The Arcadian Empire was once built over the ruins of a past race that utilised space FTL teleportation; the Arcadians decided to ignore trying to understand the super advanced technology and simply accepted it as a gift from fate. The Empire structured itself on militaristic and imperial beliefs since the early 5__th__ century when the first Arcadians witnessed the first king travel through the gateways with his armies to ascend into godhood. It wasn't until much later that it was discovered to be a teleporter and began to spread news of the new king, and thus over 500 years the Arcadian Empire has stretched far even though not being FTL capable, it encompassed over 172 planets and 5 dozen systems by 2225. _

_Human Unification Organisation: This faction of power was infamous through the Nova Stratus records as being completely immoral in practices with medicine and genetic manipulation, especially through the early 24__th__ century. The Human Unification was a movement and ideal based on a single mind and body, not literally but metaphorically it meant to bring the human race under one banner and to bring the colonies to improve themselves by adapting their beliefs of improvement through health and genetics, their beliefs were well met, but not widely accepted. The HUO began expansion just 75 years before 2225, it reached over 93 worlds, but had severe restrictions due to non-FTL abilities, but it could communicate to other planets through a unique technological device found on their planet, this communication allowed access to dozens of worlds, but made things arduous as it took years to convince many, and those with them were not as loyal as they had yet to show themselves until 2225._

_Imperial Orussian Imperium: The Imperium of the Celestial Tundra is what Orussia essentially means, the Orussians had been formed during the 8__th__ century and continued to evolve into the state that it is, however it is unique due to its amazing bit of genetic evolution. The Orussian people originate on their world of Icarus, frozen tundra of a planet, but they live in underground super cities constructed millennia before their existence, it was said that their gods shaped and created them to do their will. The Orussiuan people were initially suspected to have been cloned, on closer inspection that rumour had become somewhat true, in the earliest days the ICA found that the Orussians were using an alien technology that allowed them to be cloned at nearly instant speeds, it aged the clones to a certain degree before releasing them as perfect replicas, however in the years the Orussians phased out the use of clones as there was no longer a need. Orussian space from records indicated that they possessed 123 worlds._

_Independent Colonial Coalition: ICC was not only a formidable power during the early colonial era, but the fact that they had the largest coalition of planets was frightening. The ICC had formed during the late 9__th__ century as the planet of Callistan began to advance; the Callistians had unified and advanced rapidly in technology and science putting their beliefs in religion behind for idealised morals and ethics and beliefs which suited their society. The Callistians recruited a number of neighbouring systems through talk and began to advance into modern 21__st__ century technology by early 11__th__ century, they had covered the areas of technology faster than that of earth, however during the period which became known as the 'colonial age' the Coalition fell apart at the seams as many new colonies wished for independence. For 400 years the ICC was engrossed in civil strife and war, and eventually it fell into a dark age of space. ICC did not reform until late 18__th__ century and only during the 19__th__ did it fully recover to begin again with efforts to reconnect with lost ties. The ICC first developed AI in 2101, and created cybernetics in 2021. ICC planets numbered roughly 180 worlds, however many factions that splintered decreased the numbers down to 50._

_Neo Koslovic Separatists: NKS was formed about the same time the ICA was formed and was kept marginally controllable, the NKS however had many flaws in ideals and beliefs and most of the reform was half hearted corrections that worked well to suit certain colonies to join, the efforts it took the NKS to form was staggering and highly costly, the NKS did not survive with its neo communist beliefs as it died out in early 2312. Planets under NKS influence were roughly 45._

_United Republic of Calisto: URC was amazingly the wealthiest faction out of the Nova Stratus factions and it was the most developed faction surpassing the ICC, but it was not as expansive as the ICC or the IAE, it took the efforts of the Calisto Strata Cluster 400 years to get to a fully developed point and the URC required to buy most of the FTL technology from the ICC when they encountered each other during the late 18__th__ century. URC was initially 30 systems and 130 worlds but developed heavily into 80 systems and 210 worlds by the end of the 23__rd__ century._

_Arian Systems Movement: ASM was notoriously a heavy left hand fascist ruled dictatorship, Arian Molvic was an imperialist ruler who believed heavily in the strength of his people, but also his blood, he was supposed to have died during the 17__th__ century, however with certain technology he had managed to stay alive and active, his rule had been nearly absolute, if it weren't for the many new factions which opposed him during the rise of the 19__th__ century where the ICC and the many rebellion forces began to push forwards with a war on his rule, he was not killed until a single 4 man team infiltrated his palace and managed to slay him in 2332. Number of planets under recorded history is unknown…_

_Independent Colonial Alliance: ICA was the foremost impressive force of Nova Stratus region because of its FTL and colonisation ability, the ICA formed in 2225 with its position on Anomia and 12 new colonies, it began to garner support over the whole region boasting new technologies from an empire far away on a planet called earth, and thus the ICA began integration in a short 25 years. It continued to expand until it was stopped by the ICC and the IAE during the late 23__rd__ century. The ICA formed 80 worlds and moved upwards since._

_Races: This must remain absolutely confidential for the security of the human race and beyond it_

_Fenrisson: An indigenous species connected to the world of Valence, their discovery was not made until the 15__th__ century by ICC colonial explorer ships. The Fenris have no intentions to join the human race as they had lived in isolation for many millennia, the ICC did not attempt to force borders open and simply remained passive. The Fenris race did not join the human race until late 2400s where the planet suffered a disastrous famine caused from heat of the local star, it had a minor solar flare which lasted 3 months and destroyed over 60% of crops and caused heavy instability in the planet's ecosphere._

_Timeline: 2250-2350_

_ICA formation in Nova Stratus was welcomed by many, the formation of the first new faction since the HUO centuries earlier, the ICA formed with the intent to bring a democratic social order and wealth to the worlds of Nova Stratus, its 110 ships and 1.1 million colonists met with the first Anomians who lived on the new capital and integrated the pre-space capable race into its own. The ICAF was later formed in 2263 in order to defend against possible raids from pirates and slavers. _

_ICC and the ASM began a conflict when the planet of Vekta was invaded by ASM forces, the ICC responded with a massive fleet strike and soon the far western regions of the Nova Stratus region was engrossed in a war of attrition, it would not end until late 2341._

_URC and HUO form a pact of trade in order to maximise their economic standing as the ICC colonial conflict progressed, the pact would last until the rise of the Advent order and the Imperial Vindicators of 2371. _

_IAE makes a calculated move to engage the ICA in the south east regions of the Nova Stratus regions, the factions face off in a heavy warzone and soon finds themselves battling on equal terms. The ICA only has the advantage of space FTL and weaponry while the IAE only possess the ability to utilise ground troops. The first conflict alerts the ICA to its fragile situation and makes the ICA council partake in a future plan to protect its space._

_2350-2450_

_The ICC becomes united as it celebrates the victory over the ASM and the death of Arian and his rule, the support for the ICC rises and changes in power gives way for change to order. The ICC begins the next stage of development as it moves to unify the western regions of Nova Stratus. _

_2370 marks the beginning of change as the URC encounters a mysterious unexplored region of Nova Stratus, this isolated region reveals 64 worlds under the control of the Imperial Vindicator order which had taken root nearly a millennia before. The IVO was formed by the ruling emperor Kisage Hotari his empire had been formed through the use of alien technology in 1250. The IVO keeps at distance until offers of trade and expansion are revealed, the IVO accepts in late 2371 when the URC offers to show them regions of recently conquered ASM systems._

_ICAF begins rapid expansion across all front as helps in reconstituting the many ASM worlds, the expansion of the ICA grants it access to over 61 worlds and 30 systems, it had covered as much ground in technology as the ICC, but still did not possess a formidable military._

_IAE began its intervention into the expansion of the ICA and the confrontation of the IVO, this move made the Nova Stratus region breach a tension point as the IVO found the intrusion an act of stupidity and challenged the IAE in 2375._

_The First Colonial War-2375-2385_

_The ten year period saw to the end of minor instability as the IVO began its first major step into Nova Stratus, and its first major stride into forming the UCA, the IVO engaged in the war with no belief over pride or greed, but purely on the basis of honour. The war went through 50 systems and on 60 worlds; it totalled 18 million lives and 360 billion credits worth of reparations from the IAE to the IVO._

_The ICA made contact with the IVO in 2378 and joined the war, the IVO granted the ICA access to military power and technology as well as access to the legendary Vindicator Order. It was at the end of the war that the ICA suggested a combined effort to unite the colonies and bring proper order to all factions with their assistance, there would no longer be conflict, maybe minor apprehension to the idea, but it would work well with the IVO._

_The IVO joins the ICA and forms the ICAF…_

_Second Colonial War-2415-2445_

_The remnants of the IAE formed into the Neo Imperial Arcadian Empire, and begin another war, the URC step in to assist as hundreds of URC worlds are annexed and the ICC also join. The war goes for over 20 years and brings into play the advanced technologies of the ICC and the IVO creating the MKI Hayabusa powered armour variant suit. The war rages on until the Orussian military joins from its years of isolation. The war escalates with the defeat of the Arcadian Emperor, Magnus Derion on Theta Arcadia._

_2450-2525_

_The UCA is formed in the aftermath of the SCW2 as the ICA no longer was capable of being independent as it had encompassed over 5 major factions of power and over 1200 planets in 2450, the UCAF begins mass expansion and colonisation up until the covenant war. _

_However things did not stay normal, in 2455 the UCAF was contacted by the Office of Naval Intelligence of the UNSC and was asked into aiding in possible future plans it required. The UCAF was sceptical in accepting the ONI or the UNSC as it had long since ended its ties with earth. But the role of the ONI seemed too good to ignore, the UCAF accepted the terms and conditions and integrated and formed the ONI on Anomia, Hyperion Point base._

_2500_

_The birth of Valerie Haley and the initiation of Project Delta One- _

_2520 _

_The preliminary stage of development of the Spartan Alpha project and the final steps of Project Delta One, the initiation of Project Rey and Forge_

_2525_

_Completion of all assigned task and programs…_

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_/Memo/ -Aniston Grey- UCAF Rey Project Director_

"_To those who maybe hearing this message, I warn you about what you will hear and what you will read, this is no story of great honour or faith this was survival, and I'll be damned for those who condemn the actions we took in order to save the human race from extermination at the hands of the covenant… we did not sit on our asses and do nothing, we took the war to our enemies, with fire and vigour, we shall ensure that mankind will live to see the future, even if we do not make that journey. I say this now, 'I have become death, the destroyer of worlds'."_

_Project Rey: The Rey project was by far the most disturbing project ever undertaken, this child known as Rey -0149 was taken as a child and then genetically cloned with a psychic membrane in his frontal lobe, his genetic augmentations were meant to keep his mind in communication with the other Rey clones, however he suffered severe trauma and went into a coma. His body was cryogenically stored and 5 more clones of him were created in order to test the psycho telepathic communications link._

_The link was proven to be highly unstable as the many Rey individuals shared memories and emotions, but also their same creator, their mother. Rey then began to show signs of psychosis amongst the young group as their minds drifted into the mind of Rey-0149 and began to relive dead memories; the ONI took action to severe the link and begins a neuro-telepathic connection to a quantum core in order to avoid any future incidents. _

_The units after the connection began to act normally passive and engrossed in training, their controlled belief was to die serving and then to end up with their creator in the afterlife, or the quantum core in which their fragmented existence is sent to after their initial deaths, however there was a severe down side to this adaptation, the neural link made the effect of one of the units dying and sent a psycho impulse to all other units warning them of their brothers deaths and making them relieve their deaths inside their own minds. The ONI did nothing to subdue the effects and observed intent on figuring out the working mind of the young Rey clones._

_The program did not end until 2601 when the Rey units reached 11,000 units; although of the 11,000 barely 1000 survive up till 2605._

_Project Alpha: "They show greater promise than that of Orion, and they show much to be offered to save humanity, it is a cruel truism that I must do this in order to save lives by destroying theirs, but it is a necessary evil that is inexcusable and for what may come I shall eventually pay for it, but till then they are my children, my legacy to humanity for better or for worse, the judgement is made by us as humans to decide upon it. I did what I believed was right, even when they suffered; I did it because it was necessary. Mind, body and soul…" Valerie Haley 2525- A Choice page223_

_Project Alpha was named in the alpha stages of the Spartan program; it was formed after the failure of Orion and was then used as a template to test the gene-enhancements for the SPII program, Alpha was made in order to ensure that the SPII did not fail, however there were substantial differences in the two programs, the UCAF had funded enough to have 750 candidates aside from the 75 that the UNSC could only afford, the reason being was due to the sheer amount of resources available by the UCAF and the number of highly related gene-strands of precursor DNA that was in the human race in the Nova Stratus region as many humans had been originally altered by the forerunners. _

_The UCAF had all candidates tested and evaluated over the period of 6 years had had them all take a 3 step initiative into becoming Spartans, the fact remained that some of the chemicals and procedures were far too deadly to perform all at once and it was advised to the ONI that doing so would kill the subjects faster, the process taken by Valerie Haley proved the best option as the program had plenty of time. _

_The program proved fruitful if not somewhat gruelling, the program produced 690 available Spartans from the 6 year training program and it was less suspicious as to the SPII program, many children were selected from orphanages and certain locations, there was also the fact that those children taken from families were either compliant or unaware of the circumstances involved with their children. The Alpha project moved swiftly and deftly through to the final stages without flaw._

_And the program reached its intended goal by the end of 2524 to begin the Ascent Program._

_Project Ascent: The Ascent was meant as an inspiration to the new generation at the beginning of 2525, the program was to provide the new powered armour of the UCAF to the Spartans, and it was also to provide Project Rey with the advanced combat skeletons which had been in secret development in the Prodigal System from early 2520. The MKIII series armour was an early prototype suit required to be piloted by a single Spartan occupant, it was a streamlined variant that shaped exactly to that of their bodies, the only flaw was that the suits had bulky designs and irregular joints, it was based off of the Powered Armour of the Vindicators Order, but had to be adapted with the EOD from the Union Specialists program in order to compensate for the lack of shielding from possible enemy fire. _

_The Ascent Project also featured the research of the MVF-01 series suits, the Mobile Versatile Frames were made as an external support force for the Spartans, it possessed the firepower that the Spartans lacked as well as the shielding, but it could not create a body shield only a bubble area of effect shield. The MVF was first seen in use in the Prodigal system in the first month of the war, there were records that indicated further use, and then afterwards the suits became obsolete during the fall of 2535 when the Mobile Suit program took place._

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_Pop: 76 billion, 1780 worlds, 1500+ systems_

_Timeline-2525-2555_

_2525- January _

_UCAF troops are moved to the Prodigal and Haven's Gate, suspicion to many beliefs that there would be an expedition into the further reaches of space garner much support and thus masks the hidden agenda of the UCAF HIGH COM in its pursuit of hiding the truth of the situation. _

_Spartan Alpha is moved to Haven 2 days later and begins the final armament procedure before they reach Seti Etha. _

_Prodigal final checks completed and all MVFs had been fully prepared, only 1 capable pilot is used in the program and is set out to test in field._

_5__th__ of January brings the heralds of unknown contacts in orbit over the Haven System, the UCAF respond by attempting communication, the reply is. "Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments." UCAF engages in space combat, the UCAF fleets are heavily armed and manage to fend the covenant off from taking the planet on several occasions; however planet side operations revealed heavy combat and action on the planet. _

_UCAF marine Mitchel Walker of the Marauders independent division is called in from his previous station in orbit aboard a UCAF cruiser to help in a classified mission._

_18__th__ of January the Spartan arrive on Prodigal Eta and encounters the Rey program and Dr Haley, the Dr requires to give all Spartans the armour Ascent units and then asks for assistance in evacuating all Rey units to escape craft in order to continue program, Rey Unit 201 is left behind and ordered to self-destruct once all UCAF ships escape, the unit complies and is killed in action, the first clone casualty of the war. _

_21__st__ of January, Major Mitchel arrives in the Eastern Verge, he is ordered to aid in the location of a special forerunner beacon and is tasked in retrieving the technology to be sent to ONI Section III, his mission soon spirals out of control as the facility he enters is infested with a hostile parasitic entity known as the flood, his platoon is wiped out shortly and he and 3 others manage to reach the safety of the main complex, however surrounded by the flood and the covenant he soon finds no other option aside from sending the message and ending the facility, he activates a quantum purge inside the station core and sucks the station into oblivion with the flood and the covenant._

_Through the rest of the year, the covenant press to engage the UCAF, battles prove to be highly costly on both sides as they are nearly equally matched, the covenant fleet masters agree to bring forth their finest commander, grand fleet overseer Tol'ree Moteree, the devised operation heralds the name of the first exalted crusade._

_2526-2531_

_The UCAF lose over 200 light years and over 400 planets are either destroyed or rendered lifeless, more than 8 billion die within less than 5 years and over 1.9 billion soldiers of the marauders and reserve forces. The UCAF initiate military protocol and command, all military academies were to provide youths with military mandatory classes and training, all colonies were to have an immediate defence force in order to stop any chances of the colony's demise._

_The UCAF military standing was at roughly 3 billion, with 175,000 available warships and vessels._

_Spartan Beta begins the recruitment of more than 1500 new Spartans and advanced MKIV armour is placed into production._

_2531-2540_

_UCAF casualties mount as the war progresses, the UCAF colonies are cut nearly finely in half at the middle of the Nova Stratus region, 490 light years had been lost, 29 billion had been killed and a million youth a day were being killed to fight the enemy covenant on the front lines. Child soldiers from ages up to 12-17 were being recruited near combat zones and guerrilla fighting becomes fierce in the region of the now known dead zone, the Daedalus Crusades._

_2535 sees the change in the war as the MS program takes hold in the western regions and the eastern flanks, the UCAF begin a massive counter offensive using MS units. The war takes a significant turn, as also the UCAF brings forth the many new Spartan troops, the Beta program brings out over 2000 troops into the war and begins mass escalation in the war._

_2539 brings out the covenant's own MS program to bear and the war begins to stagnate once more, the UCAF finds itself at a kill to death ratio of 1:7, the UCAF only suffering 1 for almost every 7 of the covenant's own. The war continues as it had until 2545…_

_2540-2551_

_UCAF begins the slow build up till operation Overlord to which the UCAF would spearhead a massive attack upon the covenant planetoid to kill and wipe out the hierarchs of Divine Resolve, the Spartans receive further upgrades and new forces appear. Covenant renegades begin to harbour support and the war takes a turn for change._

_2545 brings into motion the massive assault, the UCAF bring to bear over 11,000 ships upon one of the 4 command planetoids of the covenant, the mass assault breaks the covenant grasp in a major sector and kills one of the prophets. Another flees into the depths of space and is pursued by the UCAF Spartan team Sigma._

_Sigma encounters a forerunner planet in the unknown regions of Nova Stratus; the planet of Reverence's Grace is discovered. UCAF forces engage in battle with the covenant, and also locate the forerunner known as the Inheritor, his revelation of the human race and the forerunners changes the beliefs of the prophet of Amity who seeks to change the covenant, Amity vanishes from the Nova Stratus region and takes with him his most loyal troops in order to reform the covenant._

_The prophet of Reverence takes his forces and steals the location to a forerunner ultra-dreadnought and begins to hunt for its location, the UCAF soon follow behind to deal with the rogue covenant leader and the covenant forces soon fall into civil war. All 3 planetoids are isolated however their forces manage to build a heavy resistance to the UCAF approach and the UCAF wait until the end of the hunt for the rogue prophet in order to regroup._

_2550 the final battle rages after the discovery of the dreadnought Light of Grace, Himitsuki and his fellow Spartans of the specialist division of Alpha fight the covenant and the flood in the region and successfully eliminates the prophet and destroys the dreadnought in the process, Himitsuki and his forces are reported as MIA._

_2551- Present Time- _

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BEGIN

2551-3-22

New Leppington- Far Eastern Casus Cluster- Nova Stratus

UCAF Naval Fleets travelled across the open expanse of the cold grasp of the vacuum, they graced the emptiness with their presence as they headed to their primary destination. The glow of a world comes into visual range of the UCAF fleet as it begins to decelerate. On the starboard and portside levels of the largest ship present, large vessels detach from the hull and begin to accelerate from the massive carrier and head to the troubled world below.

Aboard the carrier from the main bridge, dozens of personnel worked to begin operational checks as the UCAF fleet comes to active stations. Amongst the bustle of the bridge a single figure sat in at the centre of this hive of activity, a grey haired man who had seen more than his fair share of war, 26 years of conflict had taken its toll upon his once youthful figure, hair had grown and aged, his body posture had that of a man who had been in the command chair longer than any other man should and could have been in.

Captain James Vance watched as the fleet took up preliminary defensive positions across the besieged world, it was standard protocol in the usual damage control for the covenant scout fleets which managed to strike a blow at the UCAF whenever they could. This is was the 13th hit and run from the covenant in the past 8 months, they had grown desperate to keep the UCAF on guard, and it had worked, but for every hit and run that the covenant made, the UCAF managed to still gain ground out in the main campaigns.

UCAF cluster fleets had openly hammered a number of remaining covenant factions as they attempted to flee back to the safety of their capitals, but this retreat was only temporary for the covenant, they were out to kill each other now. Civil war had erupted between the many factions now attempting to regain order. The brutes taking their own beliefs and waging war against each other while the elites and jackals do the same, grunts are everywhere and the buggers are all running back to their hives.

Victory had been assured, but that victory back in 2551 had been hollow, the many lives expended had only caused frictions to explode, but not enough of it to fully eradicate any sense of order of the covenant, the covenant as loose as the term was now, still had control of its own forces. The covenant was on the slow retreat while others broke away and splintered in search of their own goals. The whole thing was a mess and the UCAF was expected to clean it up soon.

James slouched slightly as he tried to think about what he and the rest of the UCAF was expected to do, over 36 billion had died for this, a hollow victory against a religiously psychotic race which had nothing to do with the human race, this had been a ridiculous reason to wage a war and wipe out billions of people for. The UCAF honestly didn't know if they should be laughing or crying or both at the irony of the whole thing when the covenant learnt of the truth. The human race was part of their so called gods and they committed generations of sacrilege in the name of their gods who they had been murdering.

The covenant splintered into so many factions the UCAF had been overtaxed trying to keep tabs on all of them at once, and thus the reason for the numerous hit and run strikes launched by the covenant upon small worlds. Leppington had been hit because it bordered on UCAF space and the open expanse which led to the greater galaxy, the UCAF colony had been one of the few which remained active as a research colony and for good reason it should have been abandoned, however the UCAF had been determined to find the location of their old home, Earth.

The joke was on them as the UCAF had no recollections of where Earth was after the ICA first arrived all those centuries ago by accident, afterwards the chances of earth vanished once the UCAF formed and the war began. Leppington was a sign of hope that mankind still had allies, but sadly it wasn't a symbol some of the covenant liked. The colony was struck three days ago by a moderate sized scouting fleet.

The UCAF fleet now was here to ensure that the colony was recovered, and anything that could be salvaged was. The UCAF forces would secure the world with a small ground force and then begin searching for survivors of the world and then hopefully rebuilding if the cities and the towns weren't destroyed and if the regions were glassed to hell.

This was just another day for Captain James Vance, the hero of the damned war and the first captain to pull off one of the most dangerous tactics in a war, dropping his ship from orbit and ramming it right into an enemy defensive position and attacking them with the troops aboard the ship. His tactic was renowned to have been considered the stupidest and bravest thing a person could do in his situation.

Now he was sitting in a command chair ordering reconstruction efforts on border worlds while the covenant jumped about like lice, but he couldn't complain, this was part of serving ones people to help in any way that they can provide. James would be doing this for a while until the war either ended or he and the ship was destroyed.

He brought himself from his thoughts as he ordered.  
>"Alice, combat status at primary, prime all interceptors and proceed with regular field scans, I don't want anything jumping in while we try to search for survivors."<p>

"Expecting trouble James?" A green and gold woman asked as she materialised on the holo-pedestal.

"The covenant don't leave a world like this for us to recover and then reinforce, they either ignore it only if there's a reason to, don't forget about Orion Beta and the Seraphim Cluster incidents, the covenant always have a reason for making choices, and I want to know why they attacked Leppington." He replied duly.

"Yes well, all systems are operational before you asked, I know how you think when you strut about like that." She pointed at his arms behind his back as he was tensed.

The coms chimed as communications was opened to the first marines who had landed on the world.  
>James walked to the com line and activated it over at the command interface tactical display desk, he answered.<br>"Commander Acker, what is your status?"

"Could be better, we're picking up signals at the entrance to city 332-11, the place was first to be hit and the reports indicated from the E-band coms said that there was something at location grid: 3, 5, 11, we're checking it out." Graham replied over the background noise.

"Very well, report when you reach the waypoint we need to know what's happening on the ground." James reminded him.

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Graham felt the rush of the winds around him; the night chilled air was freezing seeing as it was winter here on Leppington, the UCAF colony city was still a fair ways off. And it seemed that transmissions around the area were worsening as they went deeper into the cover of the dark zone, it was highly possible that covenant forces probably remain to harass any UCAF forces while reconstruction and recovery took place.

Acker had a feeling that it wasn't just a small force here though. His coms went dead as they finally reached the 800m mark from the epicentre of the dark zone, he assumed that this meant that they were in a free for all once the covenant reared its head. His guesses were usually correct and this was an assumption he made from just feeling that something was wrong in the air.

"Hey private mind driving for that high ridge over by the bridge into the city?" Acker asked.

"Yes sir, I'm on it." He replied.

The warthogs deviated from their direct route to a ridge that overlooked the city. It took a short drive but finally reaching the peak of the incline the commander ordered.  
>"All stop, we're disembarking here, I need a mortar and marker team here stat!"<p>

The rear most of the convoy disembarked and started fixing a single scope for the long range marker team, the idea would be to send out a low pulse shell that would illuminate any residual energy signatures, if the commander's hunch was correct, they'd be right on top of a whole battalion of covenant.

The marker team finished and had the mortar team zoning in with a single pulse shell, the guided round wouldn't illuminate them, but it would for everything else. The team loaded the shell and fired it, it went into the air and headed for its intended target, the marker team watched carefully as it scattered the light particles into the air and around the city.

"Okay, I've got signatures, green, and a lot of red, way more red… and confirmation, there's something large at point 44, it's the source of our jamming problem commander." The marker alerted the commander.

It was as he suspected, covenant forces took a place they made sure it was secure before having to bug off, this was not a simple scout fleet, probably was an advanced elements for the next bigger fleet to come along. He'd have to call this in, but sadly the marines were deep in the dark zone, calling now would be useless and calling now would also gain attention from the covenant.

He addressed his second in command. "Okay, here's what we do, take half the marines from the convoy get them around the other side of the city, begin a full 5 minute shelling, I need fire for effect at the critical locations of the covenant positions, don't bother if you can't hit them, just run then. We just need a distraction, you pull the force back to waypoint Eta and I'll get the marines to begin attacking the jamming tower." He told his second in command carefully.

"Right sir, we're on it." The sergeant replied.

"Good, no screw ups, at least not now…"

Acker mounted his warthog once more and took half his main force to enter the city from the north east side of the walls, they'd hit the main jamming grid once they secured their rally point and then they'd push deeper into the city if the commander saw any reason to continue. The marines packed in and moved out, they had a war to wage.

XXXXX

Helios Cluster- Epping

The grand unveiling of the artefact had been a great achievement on Epping, scientists had spent the last 18 months hard at work since the discovery of the Epping portal relay, or that was what the scientists of the many organisations of the Citadel had assumed that it was. The portal was discovered about 2 years ago by a dig team searching for minerals in the Helios cluster, Epping was just another backwater until 3 months into their survey of the world they found a massive underground cavern.

By luck or stupidity, the team laid over 10,000 tons of high explosives upon a supposed mineral deposit and ended up digging up the outer layer of a massive metallic structure. The discovery took weeks to map and the teams had no way of knowing what the structure was, it wasn't until proper research was conducted by members of the alliance that the structure remained buried for some time.

Now the multi armed structure was fully uncovered and revealed, the council wished to see the artefact tested and activated. Much religious opposition was forwarded as the hanar saw the activation as an affront to their gods, the HSA had not lost any credibility, the structure revealed was much older than what had been initially recovered, it was said to date back roughly 150,000 years earlier than the prothean empire.

The council thus had taken that the structure was in no violation of anything to do with the hanar and the matter at hand was meaningless. However the council fell under attack for being in support of activating an unknown alien structure. The claimed dangers began to hold the activation back for months as more research and security had to be increased.

The final product was now and whatever happened, Councillor Valern commented.  
>"This is a new dawn for all races of the galaxy as we embark on the journey to tomorrow, this will be recorded through history as the ground breaking event that secured the future of peace and prosperity of the council races and the citadel."<p>

The portal began to rupture the dust from its ancient hull and pull itself into a lotus shape as it began to charge. In orbit ships watched intently as the structure came to life, one certain ship was a new frigate, on its hull painted in black "SSV Normandy SR-1".

XXXXX

UCAF Armaments and Weaponry

Thermal 'hot shots' rounds were introduced during 2540 when snipers began receiving mass accelerator drives in order to fire deadlier payloads at much faster rates without over burdening the sniper, Revenant SR-X9 snipers were the first released to use thermal shell of 50 calibre size and fire at speeds up to 1/3rd the speed of light, the recoil wasn't compromised thankfully by the upgrades made to the SR series. Later in 2550 many special operations forces began receiving major upgrades, snipers of all varying types received variant one mass driver upgrades and later UCAF military began development of mass produced mass accelerator carbines, it wasn't until 2555 that the UCAF began dispersion of all mass accelerator weaponry.

'Hot shots' are encased bullets which possess heat sinks curled around the outer casing which is ejected with the shell once fired, this means that the barrel is immediately cooled by the firing of the shot and the weapon does not over heat from usage. The weights of all standard thermal rounds are 20 grams and can be increased to up to 200, each rounds is comprised of titanium for normal targets, adamantium for heavily armoured targets and ionised copper to deal with shielded enemies, each variation of ammunition works to grant the user an advantage in the field when dealing with opposition, the only flaw is that not all ammunition can be carried and special ammunition is only present amongst the Psychic Operatives and Combat Engineers and rarely found on any UCAF marine. Other modified ammo types are present but many remain between troops who require them for special missions or those who have specific goals and operations that need them.

XXXXX

That's all I have folks, I really wish I could add more, but sadly not now, I'm too tired…

And yes recycled the main time line of another story which is supposed to be canon.


	2. Event 2

Event 2- Latch Keyes

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(This is what I could manage at 3 in the morning; I swear to god I need rest. Oh and we finally get to get through this story better than before. At least plot wise.)

XXXXX

Helios Cluster

Epping

Normandy SR1

The Normandy SR1 was the newest top of the line vessels launched by the Human Systems Alliance, it was the fastest and stealthiest vessels around and it proved to be an asset as it could conceal itself from opposing vessels without detection, aside from someone just looking out a window. The Normandy was the first cooperatively built vessel between the turian hierarchy and the human system alliance; it was supposed to be the first step to peace between the humans and turians, a symbol of combined efforts.

However on the first shakedown of the Normandy, the vessel was called into action, an attack on the world of Eden Prime had forced the vessel out into action and its crew put to the test. The Normandy's first taste in action ended badly with the objective being lost and the colony being heavily damaged from the swarms of enemies known as the geth. This new war being waged on the human race was elicited by a rogue turian spectre known as Saren Arterius.

However the HSA responded by sending their best against the rogue, Commander Ellen Shepard, survivor of a dead colony, hero of the Skyllian Blitz was allowed to become the first human spectre and thus changed the years of opposition to the human advancement into the greater galaxy. Her first objective was to pursue the rogue spectre; she had chased the rogue over a 1/3rd of the Traverse and still continued her pursuit with her crew and her team.

But in the process of her pursuit the commander had decided to appear at the unveiling of the new artefact, she was here only for the opening, it had been a highly anticipated discovery and it was without saying that this would be a memorable event, for some people of course.  
>In the cockpit the helmsmen with the light beard looked out from his console out to the newly active portal.<p>

"Geez, you think that spending what, about 5 billion credits on the excavation that these guys would have gotten off their arses to actually decorate the thing, or dust it? You can hardly see the thing from here." He complained as he brought the Normandy around another swing.

From behind the pilot a moderate sized woman with distinguishable facial features smiled. Her red hair green eyes seemed to glow in the heavenly light from the artefact as she looked out the cockpit, she replied to the disgruntled pilot.  
>"Relax Joker; if we don't get to see it from here, at least we have satellite."<p>

"Ha, ha, commander, come on the reception on the council network sucks unless you pay for the really good networks and even then it's like trying to find a balance with a bowling ball in one hand and a thimble in the other while tight roping yourself over a pool, I'd like to see you try find the balance in that." He replied while bringing the Normandy around once more.

XO Presley in his command seat checked on the tactical displays another crew man reported.  
>"Commander, a full sweep indicates massive energy surges emanating from the portal; something's trying to come through."<p>

Shepard craned her neck around to see the portal as it began to expand and project a massive glowing orb, the darkness seemed to suck all light within it and yet left a corona around the surface while it glowed. But something caught her eye; it was a circular shape illuminating the darkness, it swirled and took shape.

XXXXX

Leppington

City Outskirts

Acker brought his command hog to the outcropping of the city limits, there the marines parked their vehicles and prepared to enter the city, it wouldn't be an easy task; there was about 300+ meters of city between them and their target. The snipers of the squad brought out their SRs and prepared to neutralise the guards on the entrance where they were going to enter.

Acker got his squads down into their camo gear and moved them to the front gate of the city defence walls, the massive plated ceramic walls were intended to keep intruders out of the city while the population sheltered, and it also proved to be useful in keeping people inside as well. The marines had their sights on the gates where covenant barricades had been erected; the snipers located the covenant sentry guards watching over the area.

"Okay, on my mark eliminate those sentry's, one, two, three, MARK!" He ordered.

The jackal sentry guards were blown to pieces as the snipers picked them off, their bodies were dropped by the time any of the covenant realised what was going on. Acker and the marines jumped from their position and opened up on the covenant troops. The wall of bullets shredded the covenant guards at the front of the barricades.

It was then as the presence of the marines became apparent that the covenant responded, elites ordered their troops forward to engage the UCAF marines, Acker brought his AR to bear on the closest elite and fired in straight bursts, the nearest elite had his face blown clean off by the barrage. The covenant troops scattered into cover and into action, plasma fire was returning as the marines advanced into the city.

On the other side of the city the other half of the marines of Acker's convoy took note of the contact and did as they were pre-ordered, firing mortar shells from their position to the covenant in the city, the rain of fire drove attention to the incoming fire rather than the marines who were attacking the other end. The covenant commanders didn't seem to notice the major threat and focused upon the marines mortar teams.

Acker and his marines made it through the front gates and into the city, the location of their target was still some fair way off, he signalled for his marines to advance. The covenant waited for the UCAF marines to close the distance before opening up on the marines as they negated through the streets. Jackal snipers and skirmishers lay down pinning fire as the marines retaliated with rapid fire from AR carbines and SMGs. The commander signalled for the heavy weapons specialist.

"Jay can you see them?" He asked as he fired into the darkness while keeping his eyes out for flashes.

"I have sights on 3 sniper nests, proceeding…" He replied pulling out his M155 hammerhead cannon.

The team gave covering fire for the heavy weapons specialist as he loaded and aimed for the nests. He waited till the covenant volley finished, and then he fired in 3 rapid bursts from the pinned position in the street. 3 shells ignited the darkness as the nests were destroyed in moments. The explosions cleared and the marines rushed forwards, the covenant were still present, but the jamming tower needed to be eliminated, the priority target came first for the marines.

Acker fired a shredder round into the face of an unfortunate elite and mashed its face before he fired at a cluster of jackals and watch as a frag grenade blew them into a meaty pile of blood and guts. He jumped over the smouldering corpses and up through the street with the platoon. There wasn't much time left, the mortar teams would withdraw and their support would be gone.

The marines ran into light resistance for the most part, a few light casualties aside the marines were going through the covenant at a terrifying speed, they turned down the corner of an intersection to a park where they found their target. The spire was about 12 meters high and had a 4 prong antenna which emanated a regular pulse of energy; the marines figured that this was definitely it. The only down side to locating the jammer was the armed contingent of covenant troops.

"Down!" Acker yelled.

The troops dropped into their positions and avoided a wall of plasma, he fired back but was surprised to see that the covenant had prepared with shield turrets. The quad barrelled mounted weapons fired in heavy succession at the marines, 3 were cut to shreds almost immediately and 2 other suffered heavy plasma burns from the sudden over wash. Acker pulled the platoon back and ordered for Jay to get his M155 down their throats.

The heavy replied.  
>"Got it sir, raining fire now!"<p>

The heavy kick of the double handed weapon shook the ground as the marine launched a dozen shells into the air and over to the turrets, the elites manning the heavy weapons jumped away abruptly as the turrets were rained upon by the dozen high explosive shells. The area was suddenly torn to pieces as the shells detonated; the turrets were no longer there as was the covenant elites manning them.

"Let's go fuck these xeno scum!" Acker shouted as he charged.

The rest of the marines followed after their commander and entered into a fray with the remaining covenant troops, bayonets slid from their hidden under barrel sheaths and into the air, the marines pushed into the covenant with vengeance and ran through the unfortunate aliens. The sounds of hacking didn't take long to cease, the grunts and jackals weren't the most studious against the end of a bayonet, and the aliens barely could keep themselves from being shot.

The covenant was torn to shreds and the marines made their way to the jammer, the underside of the jammer had a single pillar on the ground that stored the power and manual control of the tower, but of course the UCAF had no idea of how to hacking a tower without specialist hackers or AI so the commander just got his bayonet out and ripped open the manual access port of the tower and primed a grenade.

"Screw protocol I have a fucking grenade…' he primed the grenade and shoved it inside the port.  
>"Everyone out!" He yelled.<p>

The marines jumped to and sprinted from the tower, in moments the grenade detonated and sent the tower ablaze; it didn't take long until the tower erupted in a blossom of blue plasma fire. The explosion sent shrapnel high enough that the marines could see it from the other side of the city. Acker sat up from the pit he had jumped into, he then heard the cackle of his radio come back to life.

"Commander, do you read?" The voice of Alice came through clear as day.

"This is Acker, the recon went to hell, we confirmed that there is covenant activity and that we just fucked up their jammer, and can I please call in a MAC strike to fuck this city to hell?" He asked angrily shaking off dust.

Alice replied.  
>"Request denied Acker, now listen here. We didn't need to confirm the covenant from you, there's already enough evidence that they were gone. But we've got worse problems now."<p>

The commander got to his feet and asked. "What do you mean by worse?"

"There are about 25 transports en route to your location, the fleet cannot launch any air support for now, and we're currently outside the range of the planet for the moment." She replied regrettably.

He asked.  
>"What… you're outside the range of the planet? When did you move the fleet?"<p>

"About 30 minutes before, commander, there's more than just a few transports, we've confirmed that the fleet that had engaged the colony was after something, however the size of the fleet we theorised was much larger than we expected." She replied.

"Alice, we have over 25 ships of many varying sizes and one heavy carrier, what enemy scout fleet could outmatch an entire UCAF fleet?" He asked.

"Well that's the problem commander; the enemy fleet wasn't a scout fleet. It was an assault fleet of over 50 ships." She replied.

Acker felt his blood freeze in his veins, the covenant vanguard had arrived? He heard the shouts from his troops as the roaring engines of covenant corvettes came overhead, dozens of ships were flying over their position, and he could tell the classifications from down here. He wasn't going to stick around to figure out what they were going to do to the city.

"Alice, I'm pulling my marines out of the city, is there anywhere we can take shelter from the fleet?" He asked.

"If you mean about them bombarding the planet? Nowhere, but if you need to hide, there's a lookout at grid 30-441-44, it's about 30kms from the city and it's located nearby at the edge of a mountain near the covenant position. There's nothing else that can help." She replied.

Okay, so stay inside the covenant infested city, or risk a trip to a secluded location where the covenant are driving past? He decided to take the latter option.  
>"Marines, we're pulling out of here, get to your hogs, I'm uploading the coordinates now."<p>

The marines acknowledged and executed their orders immediately; the covenant weren't going to wait for them. They made a quick exit from the city in minutes and mounted their hogs. Departing from the city the marines headed to the coordinates in short order; dozens more covenant vessels arrived in the time that they were heading up to the lookout.

Going over their final passage through the mountains, the marines soon found their lookout; it was a small base of scanners and trackers with an observation post. It had been abandoned as soon as the covenant had arrived, but the base itself was still in good condition. But the scene below was something that the marines were dreading.

"Holy fucking shit that you do not see in the field every day." One marine commented as he looked at sight below.

The marines stared at the sight below, the dozens of ships were circling over a massive dish which had 8 arms and stretched over the length of the entire valley below, but what was alarming was the fact that it was glowing. The sudden noise of the thing made the marines grasp their ears as the massive object opened up, the arms ripped from their ancient holding places and raised themselves into the sky, the earth shuddered and the marines found themselves bracing their vehicles to stay in place.

"This is Acker to command, we have a problem." The commander yelled into his com.

XXXXX

Epping

The HSA fleet in orbit of the world monitored the situation, the activation of the portal had caused a minor surge of energy which had quickly dissipated from the area, and there was now a mass of swirling light and energy being projected that everyone could see. The ripples increased in size and volume and soon their intensity began to send the ships nearby reeling, but the council and the science teams observing the portal had not noticed the change and was proceeding to launch a probe into the portal in hopes to learn what might be on the other side.

When the probe left into the portal sudden shifts in the portal became apparent as the energy no longer focused upon the entire sphere, it was opening in one spot. Camera crews and many media reporters were pointing at the sphere of energy and they all noticed that something was coming through.

The council soon noticed it as well; the shapes of the object increased in size until it finally came through like a needle though a stretch of plastic. The warping lights moved away and revealed a massive purple and lavender coloured ship, it had lights which seemed to emanate over the length and seemed seamlessly organic, it's shape was like that of a bulbous from and a smooth curved body, it stretched for kilometres.

The council patrols all suddenly burst forwards and began hailing the ship, on the Normandy, the crew stared absently in shock that there came a new ship and it was massive. Joker commented in surprise and sarcasm.  
>"Hey commander, think they're here for the party?"<p>

The hailing council vessels opened communication and soon they received this single transmission, the same transmission which had sentenced over billions of humans to their deaths and sent hundreds of world to the torch. An alien with mandibles appeared over all communications networks and declared.  
>"We are the covenant, the sacred order of the forerunners, and you are defilers of our gods creations, your deaths are signed heretics. We shall cleanse you as we had done to the humans, you shall be cleansed from this place vile vermin, for it is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments!"<p>

The sudden announcement suddenly ended as the massive purple ship began to fire, massive beams of plasma and pulse lances with dozens of heavy beams began to gut the council ships and ripped through them as if they were made of paper. The council ships banked hard from the hostile and returned fire on the ship, but to their horror the ship just shrugged the blasts off and continued to fire on the council and allies vessels.

The planet below became a panic of terror, people were rushing to their ships and thousands attempted to get clear from the portal gateway. Marines from the council and the HSA rushed into activity trying to avoid being turned to molten slag. However the council was forgotten in the mess of a situation as they remained too close to the portal.

XXXXX

Shepard yelled to Joker.  
>"Joker, get us out of here!"<p>

"What do you think I'm doing?" He replied banking the ship around a hull fragment as the plasma torpedoes chased after them.

The blasts of the torpedoes crashed into the remains of a council cruiser as the Normandy desperately made it way away from the fighting. The remaining council ships and HSA were still firing and some were withdrawing, but the problem was rather easy to tell that there was more than just one of the alien ships.

The portal continued to spill forth more and more ships, the council and alliance ships were soon outnumbered and outgunned, the alien ships were just too powerful, their energy weapons tore through the other vessels at the rear line and even blasted away at the dreadnoughts that were stationed in the system.

Shepard and the crew were mortified the entire council fleet with the alliance had just been wiped out so easily, and they were next on that list. It was then a communication came through.  
>"Commander, its Admiral Hackett." Joker announced.<p>

"Patch him through." Shepard ordered.

"Commander Shepard is that you?" Hackett asked.

"Here and alive sir. What's going on?" She asked.

"Pretty damn obvious commander, the hostiles are wiping us out and we don't have enough ships to deal with them, the fleet is being ordered away from the planet, we can't hold our own right now, we're regrouping in the Argus system." He replied.

"What about the council?" Shepard asked.

"The council isn't our priority anymore, the fleet can't punch through that resistance, trying to get to the council would be suicide for the fleet, we have no choice but to regroup and hopefully recover and get reinforcements down here before attempting that option." He warned.

Shepard knew that the council was the heads of government in the whole of citadel space and they were critical in getting her position as spectre, even if the councillor for the turians was a complete jackass, she knew that citadel space would suffer from the lack of coordination. But she knew that the mission was dangerous, the aliens had just wiped out the majority of the planet's fleet in less than 10 minutes, and she doubted the Normandy could last any longer than they would have.

"Acknowledged admiral, we're regrouping with you at the coordinates." She replied.

"Good, once were in the Argus system we'll gather our bearings and then hopefully get some reinforcements to engage the hostiles." Hackett replied.

Joker followed on the coordinates and then got them into FTL, he commented.  
>"Wow, talk about sucky day, this is just getting better, start one war after another."<p>

XXXXX

Leppington

The Covenant fleet had gone through the portal, well most of the fleet, a group of 20 ships remained behind to secure the other side of the portal for the reinforcements to arrive in a few days, if they possessed any reinforcements, or it could be something else, the marines hadn't a clue, this was the first time that something like this had occurred.

Acker was watching from an observation tower at the portal below, the site was packed with activity and he could see a number of nasty things that he and the marines really didn't want to get too close to, the covenant were determined to hold the UCAF from ever reaching the portal. Acker was in contact with the fleet.

"Captain, what are your orders?" Acker asked as he fed the direct line through a camera upon the covenant below.

James was still contemplating the situation the marines were in, the covenant had them surrounded and the nearest UCAF fleet was still a week away from here, and even if the UCAF put this on priority the UCAF would have a dozen patrols within 3 days, which still seemed rather long wait for the support to arrive. Acker and his men would be trapped down there for the whole time which wouldn't be too good once the covenant notice their presence.

"Acker, on the route, can you see any means of getting to the portal?" James asked.

"Yes, why?" The commander inquired.

"The portal is active and the covenant fleet has just confirmed living contacts, from what they can understand there's a lot of activity. And we can't get to you; can you get your men on the other side of the portal before the covenant locates you?" He asked.

The commander was surprised, that was a bold proposition, jump out of one fire and into another.  
>"That's a bit risky sir, there's about 12 scarabs and over a dozen yet built road blocks and a lot of fighter screens down there, are you sure about this?" He asked.<p>

"Better that than trying to get around them, the fleet cannot engage at the current point in time and leaving you there is already a significant risk, we've got a plan. But you better have the balls to follow it through." He explained.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Acker asked.

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Omega- Afterlife

Aria laughed at the predicament that the council had just dug the whole galaxy into, the fleet had been wiped out and the reports were flooding in with hundreds of reports of aliens of another kind were invading into the galaxy and they were damn hostile to everyone present. The council was demanding that someone come and rescue them, and of course the news that the council being in danger would hit the headlines in less than a minute.

Aria liked that the council was finally being shown up, but it also worried her to no end, even with her years of being the leader of Omega and the one being aside from the asari councillor with the best poker face, this was a situation that made her dread. The council fleet was crushed in less than a few minutes by a fleet of unknown vessels and now without the council the many governments of the galaxy were attempting to rally whoever they needed to battle the hostiles.

Aria had done likewise and called in for a number of mercenary guilds to begin arming, the mercs could probably hold the station against a number of things, but the hostiles that they heard of seemed almost impervious to weapons that even the most up to date forces could throw at them, and if that wasn't enough there was a report from the HSA ordering an assault fleet to regroup with survivors in the Argus system.

Aria pondered, what was going to happen?

XXXXX

The news of the council did not just reach the ears of the pirate queen who ruled Omega, but to the depths of secluded space where the prying eyes of the three headed hell hound watched wearily. Cerberus wasn't as active as it should have been, but the news hit their networks in less than an hour and they had preparations going over time with things.

From his chair the leader of Cerberus sat down and smoked a cigar, a real one not the synthetic by products produced on the colonies. The man's name was Illusive man, he had no name as of yet, but his status as one of the wanted me in the galaxy was reason enough for the alias.  
>The Illusive Man smiled at the predicament, but also as equally worried at the sudden shift in power, the aliens proclaiming themselves the covenant had done exactly as he had feared, declared war on the whole of the galaxy and now were planning on wiping out the races of the galaxy.<p>

The irony of the situation was that the governments of the galaxy were attempting to unite against the new threat, aside from the usual outstanding races, the HSA had proposed for immediate action along with the turians and the asari and salarians; the plan was to prepare to counter attack the covenant and seal the portal which had been opened.

The Illusive Man had seen the efforts of the council fleet and he knew that this was about to turn into a blood bath if the council races even thought of going out to face the covenant, the energy weapons employed by the aliens had ripped open whole ships like paper, and even decimated a dreadnought in one shot, the races wouldn't survive long enough to get their volleys out before they'd be overwhelmed by the opposing aliens.

TIM sat there and contemplated his options; to join the council races in their desperate operation would yield little results. The races needed a better answer to the aliens, his thoughts were interrupted however.  
>"Sir, what is it?" A smooth voice asked.<p>

"Ah, Miranda, I was just about to call for you." He replied.

"Is this about the incident at the portal?" Miranda inquired.

The young woman known as Miranda Lawson was a shapely woman with many years still ahead of her, she had black hair and an accent relatively Australian in origin, she was TIMs best operative, next to some of his assassins and body guards, Miranda was a loyal ally he trusted. Not to mention he considered Miranda closer to him as a daughter of sorts, if the term loosely fit.

"You know as well as I do that the portal is the key in all of this, however don't go now, the alliance is still yet to play its hand, I would rather observe what the cunning commanders of the fleet can come up with to save the day. But I think you should prepare, if this new race is just as dangerous as the footage revealed then we should be well and truly prepared for the worst case scenario." He explained.

"Yes sir." Miranda replied.

"Good, I'll forward any information, but remain hidden for now. The covenant, they are just the tip of the iceberg here."

XXXXX

Argus system

The fleet had grouped there with a patrol fleet and hobbled a dozen other ships from surrounding regions in less than an hour, the news had spread quickly that the system had been taken by hostile aliens, the alliance had sent over an entire fleet to help in the coming mission. The response for the situation was tremendous, but also taxing, the council races were desperate to resolve this situation as soon as possible.

The Normandy was waiting in preparation for the final reinforcements to arrive; hopefully it would be enough to recover the council if possible. They just hoped that they weren't too late when they got back. It was now just a roll of the dice and where it lands.

XXXXX

Acker had heard of the most stupendous ideas in the UCAFs history, but this was by far the most daring and suicidal plot that had ever been thought up by the UCAF captain he served under. They were going on a dead run to the covenant lines while the UCAF fleet dropped down and fired a few MAC shots while they made their run and bombed the living crap out of the covenant while they did so.

If that wasn't as ballsy he didn't know what was, aside from going down the throat of the covenant in a convoy of vehicles to certain death. Acker braced his arm to the turret of the FAV warthog and prayed that the captain didn't fuck this up. As soon as he signalled on the clock, the UCAF fleet in orbit dropped out of slip-space and made their run on the covenant position.

The skies were alit in moments and soon the roar of the MAC shots came down as the rounds landed direct hits on the covenant positions. The sudden explosions caught the covenant off guard and allowed for Acker and his convoy to make their approach. He thought of that old saying.  
>"You can only die once, make sure it counts."<p>

Yeah, this is what he and his marines were about to do and regardless, they were going to make it count for sure. The dozen strong convoy of warthogs rushed down the side of the hill to the covenant emplacement, the smoke passing as they rushed forwards, the covenant were reeling from the attack to focus on the convoy and those who did, their fire didn't catch up with the onrushing vehicles as they closed the distance to the other side.

XXXXX

(The pieces are in place people, now it's up to whatever comes next.)


	3. Event 3

Event 3- Broken Solace

XXXXX

Epping

The trip through the portal was a rough trip, and this was coming from a UCAF marine who jumped from crashing pelican and Aires gunships almost on a weekly basis. Acker felt his body literally shaking itself to pieces, the vibrations from the portal were rough, the spatial eddies and cosmic anomalies running hell upon their transport. Travelling through a slip-space portal was like a rollercoaster, but being squeezed into a 5m tube, the pressure compressed around you in order to keep your physical form from disintegrating into oblivion. There was also the fact that it was like being pulled into a vacuum, there was a pulling sensation that distorted the world around you while in transport, thankfully many of the marines buckled themselves.

Acker held on through the trip, it took about what felt like a minute, but it was impossible to tell how much time actually travels in slip-space, especially without proper sensor tech and measurement systems and an AI. The convoy traversed the portal's warping energy and then came out the other side, hard.

Acker braced as the warthog was thrown forwards, the driver had to bank hard as they exited into a cramped area, there seemed to be masses of boxes and crates nearby from the lip of the portal on this end. Whoever it had been they had been studying it, but that didn't matter as much since the marines had already passed through the other side.

Acker held on till the warthog stopped, he looked up from passenger seat and tried to see if any of his hogs might haven't made the trip in better condition. He looked over and counted each head, all were present in the convoy. He looked then to his surroundings, it was lighter on this end and with breathable air, he could see that the skies were tinged orange, a horizon over the yonder. Wherever they were it was an M class world.

One of the scouts in the convoy yelled.  
>"I see smoke, bearing 240 from my position, there seem to be buildings as well."<p>

Acker turned about in the direction of the scout and saw what he had identified. There was a definite sign of civilisation, or what might be left of one, he doubted that the covenant hadn't decided to go pay them a nice visit for tea and crumpets. He ordered. "All hogs maintain formation; we're going in that direction, but keep your eyes open for enemy fliers or gunships."

They acknowledged and followed suit, Acker's hog went first with the others trailing behind, the city wasn't far away, and they could make the trip in about a few minutes at best speeds. The covenant assault above was hard to see, but from what they could see, there was a hint of explosions above in the skies, probably low orbit. Whoever was fighting on this end was getting screwed over by the covenant a lot worse than they had when they first came into contact with the covenant.

The Prodigal system was a mess of a battle, especially since the UCAF never expected it, but thanks to quick thinking on the behalf of the commanders, the fleet managed a defensive tactic which made a direct assault on the colonies costly for the covenant. Acker hoped whoever was on this end, was smart enough to analyse their enemies before engaging.

The convoy continued on the path directly to the source of the smoke and possible civilisation, it wasn't much further, but as they got closer, it seemed that the tensions seemed to increase in the marines. They passed over a ridge to a road; it didn't seem that much different from a road in every other colony in the UCAF. But at the top of the ridge where they came into visual range, they found what they were after.

"Sweet merciful forerunners…" Corporal Jay commented.

Acker and the marines were surprised to say the least at their find, they had found a whole city, not just some settlement, but a whole city, it stretched for miles, and it looked as though it had been here for some time, but what else caught the marines attention was that the city happened to be under attack, from a large Scarab-Type 32 mobile assault platform.

The massive armoured 6 legged walker rampaged through the city without pause, its beam cannons ripping through buildings like paper and melting whole skyscrapers like they were plastic. And that was just the beam cannons, not the main plasma projector cannon, the 32s were specially created to taking on low atmosphere frigates and destroyers. The main plasma projector engulfed whole blocks of the city with a single blast.

Jay commented with.  
>"Well shit."<p>

Acker knew that the platform was going to rip through the city with ease, the inhabitants of the city seemed to be retaliating, but in the wrong way. Overhead dozens of local fighters and what seemed like hovering pads were firing small arms. Those idiots didn't realise was that a scarab of any class since 2530 was upgraded with shields and a lot of new armour, the 32 was no exception. It took the UCAF ships over 5 direct shots to bring down just 1 of these bastards.

The design of the 32 hadn't changed much in terms of the scarab; the scarab was much like the others, only difference being the location of the core and the positions of the guns and crew. The 32s were much like that of the tiger tanks during the 2nd world war on earth; those things were damn deadly if on the wrong end. But there was a weakness, the rear of the scarab had less armour due to it being the troop compartment, it needed to deploy a small task force to defend it, and also it might carry a contingency of ghost or shadows to help with crowd control.

The marines could take the fucker easy, but the trouble would be dealing with the gunners on the inside, and the fact that this wasn't an open plain, it was narrow city passages and roads, which meant that the marines were going to have a nightmare trying to avoid plasma fire and pulse turrets as well as the vehicle contingency that the things carried.

Acker was about to call in the fleet when he remembered, they weren't on the same side of the portal, which was just great… He needed to make a plan fast, and soon, that scarab would rip apart the whole region if they didn't act soon. It was then as if fate had some sick sense of humour that a shout for help came over the coms.

"This is Citadel Security Executor Pallin, if anyone can hear this please respond, we have unknown hostile alien contacts down at the emergency port where the council members are currently sheltering in. Please if anyone is capable of assisting, head to downtown district 3, emergency command shelter by the Primmer Plaza." The voice shouted over the coms.

Acker felt that his hands were tied, first contact was either by going in to save the city, or doing something similar, hell he loved this job. Jay from the second hog shouted.  
>"Sir what do we do?"<p>

Acker pondered his options and then replied.  
>"We're going in, whoever this council is. I guess saving them would help us, besides, who the hell wants to tangle with the fucking scarab without support?" He asked them rhetorically.<p>

The warthogs kicked up and began their descent to the city under siege, Acker was going to make the biggest change in the history of the UCAF, by shooting everything in sight and then asking questions later. Well if one can't help it, just do it. He made sure that the convoy avoided any roads leading to close to the scarab, it was positioned near the edge of the city and slowly working its way through it, it wouldn't be long before it reached the middle of the city.

The convoy managed to avoid anyone on the streets, and it was surprisingly quiet for a city this large, they'd usually be some people left behind in the chaos. The warthogs narrowly avoided a few fliers as they came passed and spotted some earlier fire fights from the covenant engaging the locals. It seemed that the inhabitants weren't all incapable.

Their target was marked out when they reached a large sign with the markings 3 and some alien number next to it; it was a straight run to the plaza indicated by a local map directory that was half blown open at the entrance to the district. The warthogs had to navigate the slightly more enclosed spaces of the 3rd district. The area opened up once they got within a range of the plaza.

Acker could see the heavier smoke and smell of blood; they were close alright, and as if on cue. The warthogs were suddenly fired upon by needler rifles, skirmishers had been waiting at the top of the roofs for anyone to come in and it seemed that the marines were their lucky prey. Acker and the gunners retaliated with heavy fire, and Jay lobbed a splinter grenade to smoke the bastards from their perches.

The skirmishers dispersed once more than half had been killed, they weren't stupid enough to wait for the UCAF marines to butcher them. Acker decided to hurry things along before more snipers decided to show up. The warthogs passed through the road and then to the entrance of where the plaza was. Once the doors opened they came across the target location and a whole lot of hostiles as well.

Inside this hexagonally shaped plaza where there were 6 flights of stairs and 4 landings, a number of locals were held up, aliens with strange facial markings were firing in bursts to keep the covenant at bay. But it seemed that the locals weren't exactly well prepared to deal with the covenant, plasma bursts seemed to strike them quite easily and Acker could see that none of them had thicker armour.

The locals had fared well, but the waves would eventually erode their resistance and they'd be overcome by the sheer numbers of the covenant. Acker ordered.  
>"Marines, take the rear and push over the fuckers, Jay I need you on Aerial control, make sure that the fuckers don't land anymore troops."<p>

A chorus of affirmatives followed and the marines set to work. Acker jumped from his hog and brought out his AR Carbine, he was quickly followed up by his fire team, they took to the right side of the plaza and began the attack, and the marines on the hogs would remain to continue suppressive fire.

Acker fired into a cluster of grunts with precision ease, they all fell down in moments from being shot through the skull, and he wasn't that far from them so it wasn't hard. He took shelter at a wall that bent with the road to the front of a garden that was in the middle of the plaza. He looked around and saw a few jackals and packs of grunts firing onwards, the elite in charge of the force was trying to breach while his fellow officers dealt with the marines.

Acker loaded a HE round into his 40mm launcher and then waited till the elite turned away, and then he sprung around the corner and lobed the round right into the cluster of covenant troops. The elite was taken off guard and was struck by the splash damage, while the rest of the covenant troops were disoriented or dead. Acker's fire team came around and began to fire into the covenant; Acker fired a few shots and dropped the elite.

The death of the elite seemed to make the remaining grunts panic and flee, while others attempting to keep order were shot by the locals for remaining in where they were. The grunts panic caused the covenant forces to try and regroup, but the warthogs weren't making it easy. Just as Acker and his squad made it down to the front of the plaza they had to pause. Acker halted them and then shouted over to the locals.

"This is UCAF marines 1st reconnaissance and recovery force, I'm Commander Graham Acker, we are showing ourselves, do not open fire!" He stated clearly.

A yell came back.  
>"We acknowledge commander."<p>

He took a deep breath and stepped out to the front of the shelter where the locals were, he wasn't sure if he should however bring his gun back up, aliens in the eyes of the UCAF weren't seen as trust worthy and paranoia kicks in once you've been shot at by aliens for more than a decade. He could see an abundance of aliens; some were blue and shaped like females, while the others had either grey or white plate like skin and a few less fingers or toes.

Acker carefully advanced with his fire team not breaking their sights on each of the aliens, but what caught the marines off guard was the fact that they could see humans amongst the group. Where the hell were they that humans existed in this place as well? Acker kept that question in the back of his head to make sure that he asked later, or whenever they had another chance.

The locals clustered around an alien with mandibles, it had a large collar like shape around its neck, while its body remained bony and sort of avian, he didn't like it one bit. But he decided to give the being the benefit of the doubt, even if this was just an alien. The armoured being greeted him.  
>"Welcome to our slice of hell stranger, you managed to save our backsides just in time. I am Executor Pallin of Citadel Security, even though my office is back on the Citadel itself, I am the figure of authority high enough here."<p>

Acker nodded and replied.  
>"Commander Graham Acker, UCAF 1st recon and recovery, good to meet you executor."<p>

Pallin looked perplexed and restated.  
>"The UCAF?"<p>

"The United Colonial Alliance Forces, that's the government and organisation I serve, along with my fellow marines." Acker explained.

The alien seemed a little confused, he looked around at the rest of Acker's squad, and he wasn't sure how to approach this type of scenario. He decided to improvise, he addressed the commander.  
>"Very well commander, it is certainly surprising to meet you. I assume that you are here to respond to our desperate situation?"<p>

"Yeah, that's about it. But I also came here in hopes to talk to these council members that you seemed to speak about." Acker replied tersely.

"The council's in a bit of a tight spot, they're trying to avoid speaking to anyone about the situation, but they're trying to deal with the crisis inside the command room of the bunker. And also you wouldn't be able to meet with them at the moment. A large number of the people inside have been trying to inquire about what's happened, and the council's locked themselves inside the command room. One of the councillors had wiped the access codes of the door and now they're refusing to leave." Pallin explained.

Acker checked his team; Ike could deal with any locks along the way. Acker offered in response.  
>"Well I have a hacker on my team; he can cut the locks easily."<p>

Pallin considered the offer.  
>"Why should we let you inside? You just happened to appear now? And the fact that you serve a separate government which doesn't seem to exist here, or we haven't heard about. Why should we trust you?"<p>

It was a reasonable question, you don't leave the lives of your leaders in the hands of complete strangers, and with the UCAF here now, it seemed a bit suspicious. Acker replied carefully.  
>"Look, the UCAF are here to help, and we need to speak to your councillors, either way we need to get into that command room if we're ever planning on getting control back to the city."<p>

Pallin knew that Acker was right, the city was under siege and without knowing what was going on, the defenders couldn't keep control of what remained of the city. He nodded and gestured to the marines.  
>"Very well, you can follow after us; we'll show you to the command centre."<p>

Acker replied gratefully.  
>"Thank you Executor."<p>

The marines followed along into the lobby. Acker noticed that much of the lobby looked much like a hospital than a shelter; the whole area was white washed, and seemed as if it was kept aesthetically pleasing to the populace. It was an interesting thought that these aliens thought that building a shelter like this would be smart, they'd be under attack like now, and these aesthetics wouldn't change the fact that you were going to die.

They passed into the left hand side of the lobby around a bending corridor, as they passed into it, the area became a tight fit as people crowded around, and many were looking well for themselves aside from the anxiety. Their multiple colours and skin tones made this corridor more look like some sort of badly painted rainbow.

The crowds were soon scrounging for control as they passed through; some were pulling at the marines and their escorts. They shouted for attention and screamed at the UCAF marines as they made their way through the crowd.  
>"Please help, we need medicine…"<br>"Have you seen my son?"  
>"Why haven't you taken back the city?"<br>"When will be able to go home?"  
>"Help, please, my children are missing…"<br>"Damn you and the council you assholes, you brought this on us!"

Out of all of the times that Acker had been on worlds under attack, he had never heard this much winning and complaining, or this much ridiculous dramatization from the populace, or selfishness. The UCAF colonies had to order the youngest marines into defend cities like militia along with the reserves while children were loaded into emergency contingency transports into safety zones so that they could continue the war, should the main cities fall.

Half these beings knew shit about suffering, kids fight the war of the UCAF, they at least have personnel who are over 20 defending them, not some 15 year old with a AR sitting in a fetal position crying for their mothers, and then having to go into the pits of hell. He'd seen far worse, and he could tell that these people knew little of true war.

The marines had to shove their way through the crowds until they reached the lower levels of the shelter, they arrived at a massive pair of doors, and it could easily fit a scorpion tank and still have room to spare. The crowds dispersed as Pallin moved them all aside, he pointed to a control panel on the right hand side of the door.

"You can try hacking from there, but we've already attempted more than once, these security locks are up to date and we haven't had luck with our basic Omni tools." He shouted the explanation over the crowds chatter.

Acker nodded and pulled in the team hacker, the marine got to work immediately. He uplinked a Nova interface and began to interface with his neural web, the interface would quickly find the right combinations and open the doors. As he was busy off doing that, the marines waited. To pass the time, Pallin asked.  
>"How long have you been in the military?"<p>

Acker raised an eyebrow as he turned to shot a glance at the alien. He replied loud enough to be heard. "I've been in the UCAF marines for over 10 years, and that's excluding the amount of time I've been in cryo-stasis."

The alien stared at him in surprise, he then asked.  
>"Really? You've been a part of the military for that long? When did you join?"<p>

Acker recalled the number.  
>"It was when I was just 15, my number came up when the UCAF colonies in my sector was threatened and my world had to call in all reserves to be sent. I was just the age that they needed, and the academy had me signed on, so yeah 15."<p>

"You're 25? You must have had a hell of a career." He commented.

"True that, 20,455 kills and counting. I could have been a major or a captain by now but I decided to remain a commander in the marines, these boys need me, and I'd hate to transfer. None of the other companies would be as comfortable to get into, a lot of marines dislike new guys, unless you've been freshly recruited of course, but those from other divisions have to prove themselves. My job's been as good for me." Acker summarised.

The doors to the command centre were finally hacked and the hacker announced.  
>"We're in sir!"<p>

"Good, have these people kept back, we need to speak to the council first." Acker ordered.

The marines did as they were told and placed themselves into a crowd control pattern. Acker gestured to Pallin and they both stood at the door to the command centre, Pallin hit the access panel that now illuminated the centre of the door. As the doors slid open they were greeted by the cool blue lobby into the command centre.

There were a couple of guards and a few officials to greet them, they were wavered off by Pallin who ordered them to help with crowd control, and he had a few words to speak with the council. They passed into a large, semicircular room; it was where the council had a dozen command panels with illuminated symbols, there were 3 figures who were bickering over the command map of the city. There was also another dozen people present who just watched the council try to deal with the situation.

Pallin walked behind the council members while they argued and coughed loudly and purposefully to get their attention. The three councillors turned around and greeted the Executor.  
>"Ah finally help has arrived, what had delayed you Executor?" A raptor faced alien asked annoyed.<p>

"Nothing sir, but please present the courtesy to not hit the emergency lockdown on the doors when we need them open." Pallin replied.

The councillor defended.  
>"We had no choice, that crowd was about to swarm the command room, we couldn't allow for any distractions or over burdening of the command room when it was needed."<p>

"Yes and we can see how well that's turned out now…" Pallin hissed.

"Who is this?" The horned alien with grey skin asked.

Pallin introduced the commander to the council.  
>"This is Commander Graham Acker of the 1st recovery and recon force; he says that he's part of another organisation called the United Colonial Alliance Forces."<p>

"UCAF? We don't recall there ever being such a thing even existing in council or galactic space." The blue skinned alien perplexed.

Acker decided to reply.  
>"That's because the UCAF doesn't exist here councillors, I have come from the other side of the portal that you opened up."<p>

There was a stunned silence before the raptor face asked. "Care to elaborate?"

"The portal isn't meant to bridge you across galactic space. That portal works in a completely different manner from what my command told me. And you have opened that portal into our galaxy. The other side is where the covenant came from, and the organisation and government I serve which is the UCAF is fighting a war with them. You caught us right in the middle of one of the largest wars in human history." Acker explained.

"Human? You're human?" The horned alien exclaimed.

Acker took his combat helmet off. He hadn't removed his helmet in over a year, and it was refreshing to feel the outside again, his pale complexion stood out from all the lights in the room, he then asked them. "Satisfied now?"

"Not quite, you still haven't explained how that the human race could be on that end of the portal." The raptor face stated in annoyance.

"Look, if I told you, then you'd think I'm nuts. And even with an open mind I don't know how portal entirely works okay. My superior is the only one, and he's on the other side of the portal awaiting a report from me. And I won't be able to contact him till this side of the portal is secure. And it sure as hell doesn't look like it on this end. So I tell you this, I help you, you help me and then we can talk more. Does that sound fair?" Acker asked.

The councillors knew that they weren't going to get anywhere else with this so they nodded and agreed. "Very well, we shall hold our questions, however it is in my interest to ask you, how do you intend of taking this end of the portal?" The raptor face inquired.

As if on cue a large explosion rocked the shelter, alarms rang and then an image of the scarab appeared and it showed its advance through the city. Acker pointed and asked.  
>"Well this is going to be a start, how about it raptor face?"<p>

"That's councillor Valern to you human…" He growled.

"Very well councillor, the 150ft scarab seems to be a good start. So do you want to know how to take it down?" Acker asked.

"That would be very helpful." The blue skinned councillor replied.

Acker pointed his finger into the middle of the holographic representation of the scarab; he increased the size of the highlighted area and then explained. "This is the 32 class scarab walker, a mobile assault platform, and one of the hardest to kill. It has an internal core which feeds energy over the body, and there are 4 regulator conduits inside, all of which control the motor functions and the weapon systems. You have to damage or cripple the core, but if you want to do this more slowly, you can hit the conduits and fry the walker. But the problem with this is that all of the core components are located inside the scarab, so you'd have to get inside the walker without dying."

"But that's suicide, the local PDF and the hundreds of personnel could bring this thing down from the outside, how are you going to get inside of that walker to destroy the core?" Valern asked.

"Rather easy, when I do this, I just cripple the legs of the thing and force it into a repair mode; it closes down for about 30 seconds, just enough time to board. The rest is straight forward, you just go and knock out the core and then the rest is self-explanatory." He shrugged.

"Then what about the rest of these covenant forces currently sieging the city?" Valern asked

"They're not going to be able to wipe out the city as fast after the scarab's gone, and they won't waste resources when they need them, they're not going to send a ship to blow us to hell so be thankful for that, considering that you're about as much as a waste of time than anything else. So they'll probably leave a token force to keep the survivors busy while they plan their next jump. Either way, they're not going to care." Acker replied.

The councillors communed between each other and discussed their options, either they listen to the human or not. The councillors soon came to a decision, and they all agreed that the necessity of removing the greater threat was priority.  
>"Very well commander, you have our assistance in this situation." Valern said to his displeasure.<p>

"Wouldn't have it any other way councillor." Acker smiled.

"Don't take this as a sign of weakness human, just because the covenant might be able to overwhelm us, does not mean we will fold so easily." Valern hissed.

Acker shrugged and turned away to head off and regroup his teams, he was going to need them to help in the attack.

XXXXX

Argus Cluster

The Systems Alliance forces had finally arrived after half a day, there weren't many of them, but it was enough to launch a large enough counter operation, hopefully long enough to locate the council and recover them with other survivors. Aboard the Normandy SR1, Shepard watched as the fleet gathered around for the preparations to attack, dozens of ships had been called in, many scattered from the front lines and over from other council worlds.

The commander seemed pleased with what he was seeing; there'd be plenty to recover the council. But doubt seemed to flow around him, the crew had been witness to the devastation of the combined forces of the council and alliance, and if this fleet was anything, it was going to end up much like the defensive fleets back at Epping.

Garrus had talked about what had happened and when he asked what the commander planned to do, Shepard replied.  
>"We'll do what we can, and then get the hell out of there."<p>

The turian accepted the response, but had doubts that their guns were going to cut it with the covenant forces, he had analysed the data from the battle and it was looking more like a systematic slaughter waiting to happen. Tali advised the same thing, she was more vocal by tell Shepard about the dangers of having their drive systems taking a direct hit would blow them to dust.

Kaiden hadn't much to say, he advised caution and asked to be on the ship for the battle, he wasn't going down for the recovery mission. Liara was going along. Williams wanted to go for the mission, she had been itching for a fight, but Shepard warned her about the plasma based weapons that the aliens seemed to use, she stated.  
>"It's not like they can wipe out whole planets with those things, so I wouldn't worry too much."<p>

Wrex just assumed that they were going in for the long haul and went to arm up, he commented.  
>"Gone fishing."<p>

Shepard smirked at the comment and went back to the operation, it would take half the fleet to engage from the rear of the covenant fleet and then the other half would drop into orbit and deploy a strike force to retake the city where the council was last located. It would be a direct and short operation to recover the council and evacuate everyone at the city. Even though the mission was going to abandon a few thousand other people to their deaths, the council's lives came as a priority from command.

XXXXX

Covenant Super Cruiser- Rite of the Virtuous

Aboard the bridge of the Virtuous, the elite grand master sat upon his command chair, decades of war, so many deaths, all for nought thanks to the greed of the hierarchs and their damned puppet master leading them down this path. It was damn worth a thing, the humans had crushed them in the years that followed and then this, the beacon, the holy light that guided them here, and they could finally end it. The journey, they'd take their freedom here.

Grand Master Teridra Ithon swore that his people would be free from all, and he would guide them to their promised land.  
>"Prepare the fleet for immediate departure; I want to be at that portal as soon as possible, nothing shall stop us."<p>

The agreement of the crew came through as they hurried the pace. The hundreds of ships in this splinter force would be able to carve out their names in the galaxy and none shall stop them.

(The coming battle, Epping to Leppington, oh boy, the council being assholes no surprises, so how about an epic war to begin?)


	4. Event 4

Event 4- Lighting the path

XXXXX

(Here's an interesting fact, the ARs that the UCAF use are much like a combination of the US M4 and the ACRs that are used today, but the idea was to kind of combine them. I'll give further details once I can make out the weapon's looks. And also what kind of guns do you think I should add to the story?)

Epping

Acker brought up his AR, he flipped the double mags and loaded again, he still had about 4 clips and enough grenades for the operation; the 32 scarab was about 1200 meters away and closing. The marines had to leave their transports back at the plaza and get here by foot, only 3 hogs were being used and they were for the mission. The council willingly added a few helpers, which were Pallin and about 30 other volunteers to aid in the battle.

These poor bastards hadn't seen action and a few were just volunteers from the civilian population, they'd last only minutes in a real warzone, the covenant were just mopping things up quickly, and at a pace that made Acker curious as to what was coming. The commander made sure that all the marines were ready, Jay did the ammo and head count before he flashed green on the HUD.

"Okay, this is pretty simple, we need to board that scarab and fast. First few hogs are going in for the decoy; they'll draw fire from the gunners and the ghosts. We need to move fast and hit the bastards fast, the covenant on the guns come first above all. We all know the risks people we have to take this bastard down or all of our cover is going to be as useful as damn paper, so get ready to break once we begin the attack." He said over the coms.

"All teams report ready, we're on the guns sir, give us the go and we'll get going." Second team's commander reported.

The attack was going to be right on an overpass that stretched high enough to be over the massive scarab, it was a ballsy move considering that the scarab could easily just smash past the overhanging bridge or melt it for fun, but the covenant forces were currently prioritizing their weapons and their time they'd never bother with a bridge like this, at least that was what they were hoping.

As the massive scarab reached the overpass the teams got their ropes ready, the first waves of anti-shield ion tipped 95mm warhead tactical missiles from 5 positions were aimed right on the bastard's path, once they had a go the scarab was going to have a lot of targets to hit and enough time to do it. Acker prayed to whatever was out there on its ass that this didn't cost his men a meaningless victory, he's had enough of them to last more than 4 lifetimes.

It was just before they had the scarab in their sights the marines were chatting.  
>"Hey Acer, I was curious, but why the fuck did we go into that portal again?"<p>

Acker loved how his own platoon loved to fuck around during actual missions; then again, that was how it went with most of the other missions not to mention all of the other shitty things that tended to happen around here. He answered the question.  
>"Dan, I told you once and I've said this before a million fucking times, we got into this mess only because of a fuck up on command's behalf nothing more, so get off the fucking coms and get the scarab back into your sights because we cannot fuck this up right now." He told him.<br>"And I've told you to fucking listen when I brief you on shit; we got stuck here because we'd be fucked by the nasty 9ft aliens who'd like to use our spines as xylophones for toys on our side so we came here to get raped by the nice 32 class super rig platform originally made for mining."

"That is a very uncomfortable thought." Pallin commented on the coms.

"Shit man; don't worry as long as we can hit the son of a bitch fast we'd kick their fucking collective holy asses out of here." Sanchez 2-5 replied to the C-sec director.

"Can you all just shut up? We've got about 30 seconds left so get ready and for fucks sake Luke don't miss the fucking target, we only have 2 chances at hitting the walker and then we're fucked." Lt Cobe said to his corporal.

They all agreed to shut up and wait for the walker, they really didn't need to wait long, and the massive footfalls alerted them to the moving monstrosity of a mining rig tearing through the streets with ungodly ease. The teams were tense, this was when things tended to go horribly good or bad, and at the moment it was good, but getting really hot.

The walker had just enough space to spare in the streets to scrape alongside 2 complexes as it rolled on by towards the members of the combined forces waiting above and around it, they were almost at the target location. Acker got his AR ready for the shootout; the missile teams had the scarab in their sights.

And then things went horribly wrong, Acker started to notice something different about the scarab, the platform had made a sudden stop, the groaning sound echoed across the cityscape as the massive walking piece of hellish destruction made a sudden pause. Acker then realised the fuck up, the dark shadows from above.

"Alert! We have 2 corvettes making combat drops right on top of us!" He yelled.

At that moment over a dozen pods, 6 of which were large cylinders like pods and the others being tear-shaped, all the pods landed in clusters of 4 and sent forth their occupants around the marine's positions and surrounding area, Acker swore as 4 landed about 200 yards on top of another roof top near his squad.

The covenant ranger squads exited, and spec ops grunts with modified red pulse pistols and pulse cannons jumped ahead enthusiastic with their soon to be kills, jackals and skirmishers ran forwards in perfect sync intent on rushing the marines. And of course to add to all of this with the cherry on top, one heavy footfall from a covenant powered armoured skeleton, MKIII providence class covenant assault armour. This nasty bit of work had 2 large plasma cannons and shoulder mounted plasma launchers, anti-gravity thrusters on its limbs and one large pack on its back, and a single 2.1 meter plasma lance which could rip apart a UCAF Grizzly in two clean halves.

The marines rolled away and fired in retreat, they knew when they were out matched and outnumbered, and this was that time. Acker shouted retreat orders back to their fall back positions, things had hit the fan in the worst sense. The rangers closed the distance with ease unleashing a hail of plasma shredders at the squad, a turian took a face full and had his face torn to meaty chunks as the elites continued their determined pursuit of the combined forces.

"All marines get to waypoints; we can't win this fight, go to contingency plan delta. We cannot secure our objective and this fight!" Acker yelled as he was struck on the shoulder by a bolt of pulse fire.

The marines from across also did likewise as their commander told them, they all fell out in order and got down and out of range, the covenant hadn't been as careless to what they planned.

XXXXX

Argus Cluster

The fleet had gathered exactly in time, it wasn't much, but the force that they had would have to do, they had run almost out of time and the longer they waited the more chance of recovering the council would slip. The Systems Alliance had done what they could and the fleets from across the galaxy had got what they had, only 89 ships to assault an unknown force of alien vessels which wiped out 30 or so with ease.

This rescue was either going to turn into the greatest naval in the history of the galaxy or it would be the most determined assault ever brought to bear with all galactic powers in one hit. Either way, Shepard was going to lead the tip of the spear, she and the Normandy had been given priority to get to the planet first and do what they had to do.

But there was a nice little surprise to add to this, the 4th and elements of the 7th fleet had been called up along with Captain Anderson and a few other voluntary officers wanting to go with this insanely dangerous rescue mission. Hackett couldn't join in for the operations because of the situation caused by the attack and the stability of the alliance position in the citadel should the council be confirmed dead, they'd have to pull all forces into a conference for what to do following the loss of leadership and thus the gallant Admiral was unavailable as was thankfully the pompous jackass of a politician Udina.

Shepard was happy not having to hear from the ambassador for even a short reprieve, all he ever did was bitch and whine about how hard it was dealing with the Citadel and keeping her out of the political shit-storm that would incur should she fuck up. Of course things hadn't gone smooth, and of course as things progressed it wasn't getting any easier, choices were hard to make, and she just hoped that they wouldn't cost her more than just her reputation.

She fiddled with her uniform as they linked with Anderson's shuttle. Joker announced.  
>"And here comes our dear old friend back from the grave!"<p>

"Joker I don't think he's that old." She commented.

"Hey could have fooled me." He mumbled as Anderson stepped into the CIC.

"Permission to come aboard?" Anderson asked.

"The Normandy's still yours Anderson." She greeted him.

"Is it? I thought I distinctly recall giving it to the hero of Elysium?" Anderson said as he greeted her with a handshake.

They were in a good mood; things were looking up at least in morale.  
>"How's the fleet holding up?" Shepard asked.<p>

"We're just about ready, but many members of the fleet think otherwise, what happened with the first contact on Epping really has the admirals and other commanders nervous, it's unnerving to hear about how the defence force was wiped out so easily." He replied with some concern.

"I understand Anderson, most of us here are still unsure about going out at it with the unknowns, and with all due respect, the whole thing is blown well and truly out of proportions." She said rather openly.

"Agreed, but we don't have much of a choice, the Citadel is in panic and many of the senators in council space along with leaders are demanding we get the council back as soon as possible till then they're in a state of emergency." Anderson explained.

"Well then I guess we should begin the operation soon, do you have a plan to get the fleet in?" She asked.

"Yes, and I will be briefing the fleet from the Normandy on our attack pattern and plan, you should call up your team, it's going to be either the most FUBAR mission ever conceived or probably the boldest thing since Shanxi." He replied.

Shepard called up the team, Gunnery Sgt Ashley Williams, Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, former C-sec officer Garrus Vakarian, the shy and inquisitive Tali Zorah, the resident scientist Liara T'soni and last but not least the battle-master Urdnot Wrex. All members of the team sat around the briefing table in the conference room, the briefing table was a new addition since the ship was at Arcturus for a momentary refuel.

The removable table sat in the midst of them all, they patiently observed the captain as he prepared to address the fleet, he brought out a couple of data slates and a few data chips on what he had found on the situation at Epping. He waited for Shepard to get going with the briefing and that was it. Shepard happily obliged to get their briefing through as they were wasting time; the mission was still a priority.

"The fleet will be splitting into two forces; the frigates would be passing through ahead of the fleet to get to the planet's surface, the main body will be engaging the enemy fleet in orbit while the frigates blitz the ground attack and deploy their main forces to search the city for the council, there are 5 main safety bunkers that were made for the council, so we'll search there first, we don't know how much time we have, but there should be enough to search and get out before the enemy fleet guts our entire fleet." Anderson finished with a very serious looking crew in deep thought except for Joker who commented over the intercom.

"Who the fuck proposed this stupid idea?" He said in hysteria.

The crew ignored the outburst and Shepard asked.  
>"Who'll be leading the main forces to the ground?"<p>

"That would be you commander, and there's no two ways about it, the Normandy is by far the fastest frigate we have to strike exactly on the dot." He replied.

"Why do I have a feeling that a certain ambassador had something to do with this?" Ashley asked.

Anderson replied with.  
>"Ambassador Udina proposed it to the high command and the senators on the Citadel and many agreed upon the idea; they thought that we were caught off guard by the speed of the enemy, why don't we return the favour?"<p>

Shepard shook her head and so did many of the other crewmembers, this idea was going to get them all killed very quickly. Shepard got to take a moment and then said.  
>"Sounds like fun…"<p>

XXXXX

Epping

Acker fell back as another wave of plasma bolts rained on the makeshift barricades near the plaza, he and his marines had fallen back to the plaza to regroup, and it wasn't an easy retreat. The covenant ranger spec ops weren't exactly called spec ops for nothing; they had speed agility and some of the best hunter killer tech that was around.

Acker fired at one gravity pack of a ranger as he jumped through the air and caused him to go flying off into a wall. A quick reload and Acker was back in cover firing off another burst at the grunt support as they continued to press on the marines. Acker knew that they'd have to replan the assault on the scarab now, the hunter killer squads were something that they hadn't anticipated, but now that they knew, they'd have enough time to get reorganised and retaliate, and hopefully managed to get the walking titan.

Acker continued to fall his men back, as they reached the embattlements of the plaza the marines who had been left on their warthogs got to their guns and soon gave covering fire as he and his men got back into the plaza, the gauss guns and heavy mounted 50cal chain guns unleashed a wall of fire and death, the ion rounds gutting and shredding the covenant as they attempted to rush after the marines.

It was then that Acker got a chime on his com.  
>"This is Palin, we're pinned on the east wall of the plaza, and they've got massive armoured walking tanks!"<p>

Acker knew that story anywhere, the damned walking tanks, hunters were an infantry man's worst nightmare, armour and incredibly strong with heavily reinforced armour that could take the force of about a few thousand pounds of explosives. He loved how the covenant seemed to fuck with him when he's just about to get a break.

"We're on our way, just hold out…" He said as he motioned for his team.

They hurried down the way to the east wall of the plaza area and soon made their way up the barricaded roads and then to the main doors that lead to the outside wall of the plaza. Acker got his grenade launcher out and told the others to do the same, Jay got his short hand AP launcher and loaded a single round no larger than 300ml can and cocked it.

The marines entered into the area where the others were pinned, they were about 50 meters from their position with guns blazing as the hunters and covenant fired on them, the marines were having mild luck as they unleashed continuous fire from their location upon the covenant ground troops, they were determined to hold out as long as they could.

Palin was amongst the marines who were there. The turian security director wasn't a bad shot, and the only problem was that his pistol was barely doing anything to the massive armoured behemoths. Acker prepared and took point; he popped from cover and fired off the grenade round and blew apart a chunk of the hunter's armoured body and staggered the massive alien.

They rushed the hunters, but it was a difficult fight, taking on hunters was one thing, but having infantry support and rangers on their asses was also nothing good for the marines. As Acker laid fire on the covenant behemoths the marines got around him and fired on the grunts and jackals nearby, they drew the fire from the pinned troops.

Acker fired his AR and blew bits from the hunter's exposed neck and joints, the massive creature roared in discomfort and began to smash its way to the marines, Acker dispersed his squad, Jay got his AR loaded with inferno rounds and got behind the beast of a tank and began to shred its exposed spine, the hunter did a full turn and fired on the corporal.

The fuel blast ripped Jay from his cover and sent him flying into a nearby glass shelter; his body shattered the glass and splayed blood across the ground. Acker brought himself from cover and fired again, this time in full blast, his rounds ripped the hunter in half and dropped the tank finally. The other hunter distraught by the death of its brother attempted to attack; but the marines put an end to the other hunter with combined firepower.

The marine squads rallied together and Acker went to get his fallen marine, he picked up Jay on his shoulders and hauled ass to the gates shouting.  
>"Fall back!"<p>

The marines followed after him giving him covering fire as they got back into the relative safety of the plaza. Acker took Jay over to the front of the barricades where remaining security and his troops waited. He was greeted by Palin.  
>"Thanks for the helping hand; I never would have thought that something that unwieldy could be that dangerous."<p>

"Hunters can fool a lot of people…" Acker replied as he dropped Jay.

A medic rushed over with a medical automaton, the acyclovir drone began medical procedures as the medic ran a diagnostic on the critical marine. Acker got back up and looked up at the skies, he prayed that somewhere some brilliantly suicidal plan was coming together to get them all the fuck out of this pit before anymore of his marines would die.

XXXXX

Shepard had really regretted going along with this damned plan and was now wishing she could go and smack Udina across the head with her pistol. As soon as she finished fantasizing about kicking the crap out of the pompous politician she returned back to the operation at hand, the fleet was ready, a single jump into the system and the fleet would unleash a massive blitz upon the hostile aliens and hopefully keep them distracted long enough for the Normandy and the other ships to get planet-side.

"Joker you ready?" Shepard asked.

"I'm ready, well kind of, ever thought about charging head first into a wall of enemy fire?" He said a little fast.

"Joker calm down, we're going hot don't lose your head now." She tried to reassure the pilot.

"Right, don't worry and we'll live this one through, by the way, you still owe me that beer." He said with a smirk.

Shepard left the pilot and went over to the galaxy map, Anderson had gone back to the main flagship to take command, and they were just moments from going out. Shepard got her last minute checks on the crew done quickly all members were ready to get this done, Wrex, Ash, Kaiden, Garrus, and Tali were all waiting inside the Mako for her once they got going.

The timer counted down and Shepard watched it, the timer clicked to a synchronised 0 and Joker hit FTL speeds, the fleet jumped in one simultaneous fashion right towards Epping. Shepard got down to the rear hangar and got to the Mako, as she entered the team eyed her.  
>"Well this is going to be fun…" Garrus muttered as he checked his sniper again.<p>

"What makes you say that?" Shepard asked.

"Not much, but this suicide charge isn't what I call exactly productive." Garrus said a little disheartened.

"Agreed Garrus, but nothing we can do now." Shepard said strapping herself down into the driver's seat.

Kaiden asked.  
>"How are we going to find the council on the ground commander?"<p>

"Simple we shoot anything and everything that isn't friendly and then search for the council." She replied with a joking smile.

"Not the response I was hoping for, but works for me." Ash added.

The beeping of alarms came to life as they began to drop out from FTL, Shepard yelled.  
>"Hold on to your asses it's going to be one rough ride…"<p>

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Garrus said over the alarms.

It was then that the ship began to rock violently and there was a distinct shouting of cusses over the coms.

XXXXX

On the bridge as the ship jumped out of FTL with the rest of the fleet, Joker could see the sheer extent of the enemy fleet's capabilities, as soon as the Normandy came out of FTL 3 large beams of energy nearly glanced the ship, he pulled the ship hard at starboard to avoid being gutted by the immense energy blasts.

Unfortunately 2 other ships had been just a little slow, they were cleanly blown to molten slag before they even knew what hit them, and then the rest of the fleet came from FTL and began to scatter as they came under direct enemy fire. Joker had a definitely hard time keeping the whole ship from being torn apart by enemy fire.

Joker activated the main guns returning fire at a dreadnought sized ship with enough guns to swat the Normandy in seconds, but thankfully having the rest of the fleet nearby gave a good distraction while the Normandy blasted at the enemy main guns, the main plasma cannons of the enemy ship were quickly disabled.

The short lived victory was repaid by the surprise of another 11 guns which soon opened up all around the Normandy, Joker hard banked the ship scathing a blast on the portside wing which then sent the ship into a hard spin, Joker swore as he pulled the ship from its spin and back to their main course, he checked his sensors watching for all enemy targets and friendlies, he was rather demotivated as he watched more and more of the fleet vanish, their allies and themselves were being bashed against a hard rock alright.

Anderson's flagship pulled alongside for a moment before it began firing salvoes of missiles and laser fire at a nearby enemy dreadnought, the fight continued with the Normandy cut across another enemy vessel which had been damaged earlier from the first engagement, it hadn't paid attention to the Normandy as it swooped past right to the planet.

Joker couldn't believe his luck as they made it to the atmosphere, but as he kept his eye on the sensors he realised that barely a 1/3 of the frigates ever made it past the enemy barrage, he knew that this wasn't good. He didn't bother wasting time though, he called the commander.  
>"Shepard, we've cleared the enemy fleet, but we've lost over half of the other ship's I don't know if we'll get any more support than what we have at the moment."<p>

The commander replied.  
>"Understood, but we don't have time to waste, we'll get going ahead."<p>

"Right…" It was then alarms began to ring.

Joker noticed a sharp brightness and then pulled the ship away as a beam of energy narrowly missed the Normandy and gutted a frigate behind it. Joker swore as much as he could as he cleared the skies and saw what was firing at the Normandy. It was a 6 legged monstrosity with enough guns on it that made him back the Normandy to the cover of the skies again.

"Umm commander we might have a problem." Joker said as he began to circle around to try and get them over the drop site.

"What's wrong Joker?" Shepard asked.

"We have a very mean motherfucking spider like tank with a hell of an energy cannon loaded to its head and it isn't giving us any place to set down, I'll have to drop you as close to the LZ as I can, but unless you can clear that thing out of the way, we're all going to be fucked." He said rather annoyed.

"Okay, we'll see what we can do, drop us on the LZ and when we're on the ground we'll try to get to the walker." Shepard replied.

Joker had a bad feeling, but he really didn't want to be so cliché with his gut, he got them over the LZ and dropped the Mako over a 200m stretch of road.

XXXXX

Shepard in her harness felt the gees mildly as the Mako went to ground, as they dropped out from the clouds Shepard took notice of the very large walker that Joker had been shouting about, there was a massive walking 6 legged platform with plenty of guns and a very big head for a cannon, it didn't seem to notice Shepard and the Mako, but it did notice the frigates jumping in and was firing upwards into the skies.

The walker went outside of the view as the Mako landed at the LZ; the Mako did a power-slide across the ground before abruptly stopping near a pile of ruined vehicles. Shepard then got out the map and searched for the council emergency broadcasting signals, there was one just to their West and it was definitely active.

"Looks like our grandiose council members are stuck in a plaza to our west, ready for a rescue people?" She asked them.

"We're ready to go, whenever you are Shepard." Tali said as she held onto her harness.

The commander hit the accelerator and the Mako went bursting forwards, the commander continued in a bee line to the council beacon while the team braced for their lives as they went over speed bumps and rubble, it was no wonder they called her flatfoot. The Mako narrowly missed a hulk of wrecked vehicles and landed on all four, Shepard was enjoying the speed of the Mako while Garrus nearby sat mortified by the speeds that they were going at.

As they closed the distance to the council bunker the sensors began to pick up contacts, Shepard yelled.  
>"Ash get on the gun!"<p>

Ashley did as ordered and clambered into the turret controls and fired off at the hostiles ahead, the main gun blew the hostiles clear from their position, but that only brought another wave of troops armed with large unwieldy cannons. Shepard banked hard and hit the thrusters as a cluster of projectiles narrowly missed the cockpit of the Mako.

Shepard landed the Mako right on top of the hostile squad and sent them scattering as she pressed onwards with the Mako. They reached the entrance to the council bunker's plaza, it took a moment for the computer to open the doors, and as soon as they entered they were greeted by a grizzly scene.

A group of humans were mopping up the remaining hostiles with ease, it was an apprehensive scene, and soldiers executed survivors with bayonets which were either long serrated knives or mini-chainsaws. They brought the Mako down to the front of the plaza where the soldiers pointed their guns at the Mako; a soldier got out a com and then yelled on his speakers.

"Identify yourselves or we'll fuck the living shit out of you with the 40 mikes!" He stated clearly in a direct fashion which almost made Shepard not retort something smart.

She then said.  
>"I'm Commander Jennifer Shepard of the Human Systems Alliance; I'm under orders to retrieve the council members as soon as possible!"<p>

The officer in charge went over to his cover and discussed something with a turian officer whom Jen identified as Palin of Citadel Security, the poor director looked like he was put into a meat grinder he had blood smeared over his uniform. Garrus commented.  
>"The day any security member sees their superior in such a state would usually get a weeks' worth of free time with pay and a case of beer."<p>

Shepard smiled at the comment as the human told to them.  
>"You're clear to come on through, but keep your damned tank over by the water tank; it's too big to fit that thing in the front parking lot!"<p>

Shepard followed the instructions and parked the Mako by the side of the bunker where there was room to spare, it wasn't the most likeable thing that Shepard had done, but it was necessary as they had a lot of guns pointed at them and a schedule to keep they needed to make sure that everything was by the book.

As soon as Shepard exited she was greeted by a platoon's worth of soldiers, she then took notice of something rather obvious, and all of them looked younger than she was. They cleared away as the officer in charge appeared; he shot a quick look and then introduced himself.  
>"Name's Commander Acker of the UCAF Marines 81st recon fleet, nice to meet you Shepard…"<p>

XXXXXX

Yes this is going to be continued and I have found a new found interest as I had just finished playing ME3 on Xbox and have found the ending to be lacking a little bit, I mean it wasn't the best and it wasn't the worst, but I can't really ditch the fact that the ending was meant to be what it was, messiah of the galaxy and such…

And yes Jennifer Shepard is reference to Hale.


	5. Event 5

Event 5- One Way

XXXXX

(AN: Sorry about the timing, but I've had a lot on my mind, recently lost a friend to an accident, he's gone and so is his brother RIP. I had some thought about what I'd be continuing on this fic so I just decided to wing it with what I had.)

XXXXX

Epping

Joker banked the Normandy away in a sharp turn as a blast of energy laced the skies where it had been moments before. He swore out loud as he tried to avoid getting the Normandy turned into molten slag from the firepower of the massive six legged machine on the ground with some sort of personal grudge against the ship.

"Geez this is fucking insane!" He yelled dodging by a pinhead turn as another blast of energy scorched the hull of the Normandy.

He pulled the ship into a dive and then got the Normandy to the city level; the ship had to narrowly dodge another shot from the walker as it got low enough to the ground. Joker sighed he was relieved that the walker couldn't see them anymore, of course the thing was still firing into the city but the machine wouldn't probably be able to determine where Joker had the frigate hidden.

Joker looked over to the sensors on the battle above; things weren't going to well, which was the understatement of the year. Anderson in the CIC was trying to coordinate the forces, but even with the whole damn Alliance fleet and the council's forces it was still one damn fight that they weren't getting anywhere fast.

The fleet was outgunned badly compared to the hostile fleet; they seemed to gut the council ships with their main guns, frigates which concentrated firepower enough that could even drop a dreadnought's shields only irritated the hostile's ships like they were mosquitoes. A few ships' managed to get some damage through, but they were picked off by swarms of enemy fighters, the whole battle field seemed to turn around the hostile's fighter squadrons which seemed to just tear into practically everything that was within their reach.

Joker knew that the fleet was about as good as a mere distraction, Shepard and the others on the ground were the main focus here, they had to clear the city and get the council the heck off of the planet before things got any worse. But he had a sneaking suspicion that time wasn't on their side.

XXXXX

Shepard stood there looking at Acker; the officer seemed to give her the impression of someone she'd like to have met when she was younger, like during the Skyllian Blitz. Acker held himself like an actual officer but nothing like that of a HSA marine commander, he had this tired look but also a steeled one that was galvanised to the point that he could take any situation head on.

"You've got me at a bit of a loss." Shepard replied to Acker who greeted her.

"Don't worry we just picked out your communications when you arrived, my adept's have an interesting way of doing things by themselves." He shrugged.

"That's good and all but I'd like to ask you something on the situation quickly." She put her hand over to signify that this was something important.

"What might that be?" Acker asked.

"Who the hell are you and what's this UCAF you called yourselves?" She asked.

Acker looked around to his men, it'd be better to get moving along, but with the commander they needed to clear thing's they didn't need to have a question sitting about between them with doubts of who was doing what. Acker decided to divulge enough to sate the commander's curiosity; he had orders to withhold as much as he could till recovery or if on this side they'd require an inquiry with the council, which didn't seem like it would end too well.  
>"As I said I'm Commander Acker of the 81st Marine's Recon and Recovery, I and my men have been sent here voluntarily without much choice by our situation, and I'm not meant to discuss the UCAF until after your council is safe or if there's an inquiry that they'd formally address, then we'd discuss it. But until then most of what I'll say will be the same."<p>

Shepard looked at Acker for a moment longer and realised that they'd never get through to him, he didn't trust her and she didn't trust him, or it was something else in her mind. She let it pass for now. "Fine, but you damn well have a good explanation for this shit…" She thumbed the massive walker's beams from behind her.

Acker let the commander and her team into the bunker, there hundreds crowded the rooms with their bodies. Pallin had cleared enough walking space for the commander to pass through with her team, Shepard was surprised to see Pallin here as much as anyone, he explained that he was caught up in the formal affairs of the new portal, but he never intended to stay for the explosions.

Shepard was damned glad to see that he was doing well to get these people organised, especially with the damned alien invasion going on. As they entered into the next room, Shepard was greeted by the usual berating of the council members and some other officials over what to do. Shepard felt that she was going to have to shovel another load of political crap down her throat before this was over.

The councillors stopped arguing as soon as Acker stepped in with Shepard. Shepard was greeted by the councillors.  
>"Finally some help arrives, Commander I'm assuming that if you are here that the council fleet is in orbit?" Valern asked.<p>

Shepard replied.  
>"Yes, but the fleet is barely holding as it is. The enemy fleet from what I've heard is still maintaining control over the portal but they've stayed exactly where they are. The only problem we're currently having is actually securing the city."<p>

"What do you mean?" Valern demanded.

"The enemy forces in the city have a giant walking fortress which happens to be wiping out our forces. If you haven't noticed I only have my team here and some other members of the council forces. We can't fight that walking titan and so we can't begin an extraction." Shepard explained clearly.

"Then the solution should be simple." Maelon said rather surely.

"Oh we tried to bomb the thing, however the few frigates and fighters we have didn't leave a scratch of it, from what reports I'm still getting from the Normandy the fight's about to go bust." Shepard stated grimly.

The council members suddenly grasped their situation pretty clearly. Acker decided to give his say though.  
>"You said that you got some bombing runs on the Type 32?" He asked.<p>

Shepard turned to the UCAF marine and replied.  
>"Yes why?"<p>

Acker knew that what he was going to propose was as good as suicide, but better than nothing.  
>"If you managed to get some bombers to hit that thing, then you've got some fast ships, and if you have fast enough ships to dodge the heavy energy turrets and plasma lancers on a type 32, then we might have a chance to take it down."<p>

Shepard thought about it and asked.  
>"How would you suggest we take that walking fortress down?"<p>

"Easy, drop a shock trooper unit right on top of it while making a run, the unit can get unto the walker and then go and destroy it from the inside." Acker explained.

The commander looked at him in disbelief, and so did the council members and Shepard's team. Ashley in the team exclaimed.  
>"But that's suicide even for thrill seekers, dropping out at such speeds to hit a target like that would require precision and a lot of thruster packs, and I don't think that the Mako was made for something that risky."<p>

Liara agreed on Ash's point.  
>"I have to agree with the Gunnery Sargent, making this bold a move is one thing, but physical forces in such movement doesn't take a scientist to know is lethal."<p>

Wrex added.  
>"Unless you happen to be me, but I don't intend on going alone."<p>

Acker explained how the UCAF did things.  
>"Well good for all of you, we aren't normal humans, me and my boys are 81st recon for a reason, we hit hard and fast, but we have jetpacks."<p>

Shepard and the others looked at him in surprise.  
>"You have jetpacks?"<p>

"They're not new things Deadshot-MKV jetpacks are pretty normal to have in case of emergency situations so yeah, we have jetpacks. And if you can get at least my team close to the drop point me and my boys can clear out the Type 32 and blow her to hell in minutes. It's really what we do for a living." He replied.

"But what about the troops inside the walker?" Ashley asked.

"Seriously lady, we've done this more than two dozen times too many, drop us in and we'll clear you a path." Acker replied rather timidly.

Shepard contemplated her options, the UCAFs plan sounded more like suicide, but then again these were soldiers who looked like they could handle themselves. Of course barring the fact that many were just teens, they did have a lot more training and experience, this was apparent with the amount of corpses they were piling outside.

But on the other hand she wanted to help them, or at least make sure that she could trust them, she made her decision.  
>"Very well, Acker's plan seems like the only shot we have. But I would like for 3 members of my team accompany you on the attack."<p>

Acker looked at her with some concern, and his marines didn't look too keen on having aliens on their side or as a matter of fact anyone outside the UCAF. Acker knew that the commander was out for his trust on this; probably her own self-evaluation of the marines, Acker couldn't deny that the commander had some rather practical ways for earning trust.

"Okay then, if you want to send along a few members we'll have to jury rig the jump packs, but aside from that, who do you intend to send with us?" Acker asked.

Shepard ran the members through her head, she knew that she had Garrus's trust on this one, he wouldn't like it, but he wouldn't back out. Ashley was a soldier, she had training and she was close combat capable. And then Wrex was out of the question, she doubted that the jetpacks were made for someone like him. Kaiden was a soldier, but he was more or less a technician. Tali was a technician, but she seemed capable by herself, but her suit was a definite liability, and then Liara was a scientist who didn't really have much training at all, she could fight, but not in these kinds of situations.

"Okay, I'll send, Garrus, Ashley and Tali along for this one." Shepard announced.

"What are you going to be doing commander?" Garrus asked.

"I'll be acting as a distraction in the Mako, I'm pretty sure that walker isn't just going to let you jump down." Shepard looked at the UCAF marine.

"True that, the walker has turrets all around, in order for a higher success rate, we'd have to draw its attention away from any vessels in the air, which is why we and Shepard's team will be on the ground providing a distraction and support." Acker finished.

"Oh boy, why do I have a feeling that this is going to be a rough one?" Ashley asked.

"Considering our situation I'd like to add that my suit doesn't come with a regurgitation pack, which right now would seem like a thing to have for this mission." Tali quipped.

"Don't worry you'll be fine, just when we give you the jump packs make sure to hit the red button before you reach 300ft or they'll be a lot of cleaning up to do." Jay joked in a corner.

Acker decided to wrap the meeting up.  
>"Well any other questions about the mission?"<p>

"How do we distract something like that walker?" Kaiden asked.

XXXXX

1 hour later…

The Mako rolled out of a street corner narrowly scrapping past some parked vehicles as it rushed forwards desperately from the oncoming titan. Of course the walker didn't need to follow exactly through the streets, it just made its own damn path as it pleased. The buildings blew apart as the titanic walker pursued.

In the Mako Kaiden drove frantically to avoid becoming a human pancake.  
>"Why the hell did I get chosen for this?" He yelled over the com.<p>

"Maybe because you're gullible and rather easy to persuade?" Shepard giggled over from her sniping position.

The quick change in distractions happened with Kaiden volunteering to be the decoy with Wrex and Liara while Shepard took sniping positions with the marines on the roof tops of the planned route, the plan was simple but rather dubious with the massive walker in pursuit. The marine's warthogs were in place to help, but that was only if the walker decided to send out some ghost's after the Mako.

On the other side of the city Garrus got his team together with the UCAF marines onto the Normandy. It was definitely a fair distance from the actual fight and they had spent considerable amount of time in order to avoid any patrols to reach the safe pick up zone. Once there Joker got them into the hangar and prepared them for the jump.

Jay, Kenny, Moe, Guile and Mac were the members of the UCAF shock trooper team, of course they were all male, and rather heavily armed, but that didn't mean that they couldn't jump from a ship at 600ft and land on the back of a massive killing machine that was on a rampage in the city. Joker was somewhat sceptical of the whole plan tempting fate by saying.  
>"What could possibly go wrong?"<p>

"How about getting a broken femur and a collar bone at the same time?" Guile threatened.

Joker shut up at that point and got them in the air. The Normandy managed to get to the necessary height over the walker, but then came rather annoying complications.  
>"I've got hostile fliers on approach; damn I thought I lost these guys." Joker swivelled the Normandy into a nose dive.<p>

"Commander, things are getting a little bit out of hand here, we'll have to jump early, is the target in range?" Garrus asked.

Shepard scoped out the range between the Normandy and the walker.  
>"Kaiden should be in range within the next minute, you can jump, but I don't know if the walker will be close enough."<p>

"Okay… we don't have a choice at the moment." Garrus finished and jumped over to the marines.

"Looks like we're going early." He said grabbing his assault rifle.

Jay commented by a small 'hooray for us'.  
>"Well it's been nice knowing you all, the enemy walker isn't going to be easy to board especially with all the energy weapons they have, just make sure you don't get too close to any of the hairy apes, they can technically break your arms and legs with ease."<p>

"Is that it?" Ash said.

"No I just don't want to add any more ridiculous amount of warnings to an obviously lethal situation." He said hitting the button for the doors.

"That's reassuring." Ashley Deadpanned.

They stood out looking over the whole scene below, the walker striding after the Mako with cannons blazing everything that got in its way, the sniper teams were busy keeping their targets in range, and somewhere down in the smoke waited their extraction. The UCAF marines were sure that this was going to be a simple hit and run, or so they kept saying.

As they got close enough, Jay yelled.  
>"Get ready! And… JUMP!"<p>

The marines and Garrus's team leapt out of the hold of the Normandy and through the skies, the air whipped around them, of course there was a little trouble keeping in a tight formation, the explosions below caused unpredictable drafts for the team. And then there was the fact that the turrets finally noticed the team's descent, they opened up as they sped towards the walker.

Jay had his team in a loose kite formation; they didn't exactly have training for actual jumps aside from hitting the packs before they reached 1200ft. As for Garrus, Ashley and Tali, they didn't have as much training at all, aside from a quick crash course in using the jetpacks, the marines timed the jets on the packs to initiate descent speeds, but warned that they should do it themselves rather than trust the timing mechanisms.

Tali was sayings something over her com about throwing up her processed nutrient paste and had to stick close to the marines out of fear of accidently losing control, one of the marines offered to grab her in case. Ashley hadn't had this much of a thrill freefalling since her teens; this was awesome, and incredibly risky.

Garrus on the other hand seemed relatively focused upon his job, he wanted to see how well he could do, he saw the marines of the UCAF as kids, and still regarded them as such, but why they didn't seem to care about dying as much as other soldiers still made him wonder how skilled they really were. He saw them act, but in actual training they seemed to know what they were doing, even if it was suicidal.

As they reached their target, they immediately activated their jump packs, Jay and Guile took point drawing their DMRs and firing on the nearest turrets, the unfortunate grunts were shredded by the HEAP rounds of the .45 rifles. Jay landed in the middle of the walker, he almost broke his leg trying to slow enough and jump off to land on the walkway of the walker.

Guile landed exactly on the shield generator, he went to work removing any problematic covenant in the control room while the others went about plating their charges. Moe and Kenny landed at the front end of the walker, Kenny almost getting killed by a needler carbine. Moe landed next to Kenny and began dispensing 8 gauge justices with his Boom-STK: 88 the heavy shotgun was of his own creating, using standard UCAF 8 gauge rounds and 12 gauges, he went head to head with everything in his way.

Tali and Mac landed near the rear of the walker not far from Ashley and Garrus, Moe had to guide the quarian down to the walkway as turrets nearly shredded Tali in mid descent. Garrus made his landing hard; he dropped down fast and avoided nearly getting gutted by a super-heated spike round. Ashley landed next to him, her rifle already drawn she began fire her Kovalyov MKX; it burst to life and sprayed the nearest grunt with half a dozen rounds.

Of course then came along the buzz kill of any attack, two brutes and a pack of jackals came from a hatch that opened into the interior troop compartment of the walker, they were not happy to see humans and the other aliens. The brute with gold and silver on his armour held a Shredder Carbine, and the other next to him in lighter bronze armour had a pair of Rippers, the equivalent of mini shotgun pistols.

Garrus ducked behind a barrier as soon as the brutes opened up. Ashley took one burst of fire and made it to cover her shields had almost been depleted by the Ripper blasts. Tali and Mac made it to cover around the corner of walkway the bulbous metal decking protecting them from fire as the brutes pressed their attack.

"Damn, I thought that this was going to be easier…" Garrus commented as he fired from cover at the covenant troops.

"Tell me about it, what the heck are these things?" Ash asked as she and Garrus fired in quick burst at the pack of troops.

"No clue, but they don't like us very much." He commented as he tossed a grenade he had retrieved from the Normandy, Shepard had lent him use of any weapon he needed. The grenades were a definite plus to the situation, but the pack of troops seemed to have shields.

The avian aliens block one and absorbed the first grenade, Garrus had only 3 more, and he had no intention of wasting them soon. He needed to come up with a means to break this deadlock and fast.  
>"Tali, what's your status?" He asked over the com.<p>

"I'm pinned… Keelah, these things don't like me and Mac any more than you, they've pinned us by the walkway to you. Mac has some grenades, but he says they're useless unless you throw them all." Tali replied.

"Well that's just peachy… Tell Mac I have an idea, but it's going to be risky." Garrus said firing another burst.

Tali relayed the message to Mac, who gave his response.  
>"He says to get the hell on with it…"<p>

Garrus rolled his eyes.  
>"We've got to pin them long enough to lob some grenades at them, tell him to throw on my mark, we'll cover you with what we have, and then you and Mac flank them."<p>

"Right…" A brief pause before she said.  
>"We're ready."<p>

"Okay, one, two three…" Garrus and Ashley began to fire at the pack wildly.

The brutes were taking cover behind the jackals as Tali and Mac got from their position and flanked, Mac lobbed his M50 Bayonet HE grenade. The 420 gram explosive landed right in the midst of the troops, the brutes shouted to scatter, but it was too late. The charge detonated spraying the area with blood and bits and pieces of the covenant troops.

The brute that was clad in silver and gold survived by a narrow margin, having better armour than his subordinate who had been caught in the explosion and now decorating half the deck with his blood. The jackals were almost gone, with two remaining barely alive; Garrus and Ashley took care of them quickly before their guns overheated.

The brute officer, that Mac identified as a Gladiator class warrior soon enraged in bloodlust sought a fitting end, and targeted the nearest hostiles. It eyes focused on Garrus it charged with abandon, Garrus pulled his pistol out and fired 3 rounds hitting the shoulder and arms of the ape like brute as it rammed him.

Ashley attempted to fire at point blank with her shotgun, but the brute gladiator knocked her back with one heavy swing of its armoured gauntlet. The brute grabbed the decked turian and hefted him by his armoured collar. Garrus spat out.  
>"Is that all you've got?"<p>

The brute hissed and threw him across the length of the deck; he smacked hard against the hull, Mac held Tali back and motioned to her to get to cover.  
>"I'll deal with him; you get to the door and hack it. I'll help Garrus."<p>

She looked uncertainly at the situation, but she acknowledged and got to the door into the core of the walker, the others depended on them plating the charges while Kenny and Moe disabled the turret controls from the inside, and immobilised the walker for them to get clear. Mac got out of sight of the brute as he went over to continue pummelling the turian former officer.

The brute grasped the turian again waiting for another witty comment, but Garrus remained on the edge of consciousness, that last blow had taken the wind out of him for sure, and the fact that he now had a visible dent in his chest was rather painful for him to breathe. The brute was drew his knife and prepared to finish the turian.

He brought it to eye level with the turian who was feeling rather beat, and knew that either death was going to follow, or some miracle was going to save him. The brute prepared to gut Garrus, but never got beyond drawing his arm back as someone grabbed it from behind. Mac waited for the brute to busy himself as he got behind, he was rather sneaky with a knife for a reason.

The brute dropped Garrus as the marine rammed the 6 inch energised blade into its throat, the trench knife Mac possessed was his own special tool, the knife was made for combat in the Titus Segment Campaign, forged by some of the best weapon smiths in the UCAF, his brother sent him the blade back after the campaigns in the Titus region ended. And then he died shortly in the Daedalus Crusades, Mac owed it to his older brother for the life he had and his way to honour it was kill as many covenant with the knife.

The trench knife was repeatedly rammed into the jugular of the brute before it finally choked on its own blood desperately trying to pull Mac off of its back. The marine landed in a crouch as the brute fell forwards into a pool of its own blood. Ashley who had been winded got to her feet and scrambled over to the marine who was now hefting the injured turian to his feet.

Mac saw the extent of the injury and commented.  
>"You have internal bleeding probably a collapsed lung and a number of fractures."<p>

Garrus couldn't comment as he drifted in between consciousness and passing out from lack of air. It was then that he felt something hit him hard, and then a heavy jolt kicked him out of his daze, he screamed in pain.  
>"What the hell!"<p>

He looked down to see that there was a cut in his armour and a needle with what looked like a canister and some sort of pad attached to it, whatever it was it had just woke him up and his chest felt a little bit relieved. Mac drew the canister away and let go allowing the turian to regain composure from the EMBI-Pack.  
>"Emergency Medical Bio Injector, heals every kind of injury within moments, and hurts like hell."<p>

Ashley arrived in bemusement at the sight and asked.  
>"What happened?"<p>

Garrus and Mac looked at her and replied.  
>"Nothing…"<p>

Tali called over and asked.  
>"I've got the doors open, what's your status?"<p>

Garrus took to reply.  
>"I'm in pain and alive, Mac's got thing's covered, Ashley's fine. We should probably get to blowing up that damned generator… and getting the hell off of this thing." He painfully hocked out.<p>

The team got to work and hurried to the walkway into the lower levels of the massive scarab, meanwhile the others around the ship dealt with every other problem.

XXXXX

Kenny fired inside the turret control room, avoiding another burst from the brute repeater; he had been playing cat and mouse with this cloaked bastard for just over 2 minutes now. Moe was busy placing charges on the automated section of the walker, the last thing would be to deal with the manual controlled turrets, but not before they evened the situation above. The manual controlled turrets had no locks which made them rather easy to use on enemy vessels and positions, Moe had the technical data on all entrenched covenant positions around the city. He was going to upload them into the manual firing controls and have the walker fire off a heavy plasma salvo on its own forces before it exploded. That would surely help having to kill the bastard themselves later.

Kenny finally got around one console and decided to lay a trap, he activated his hologram emitter and placed it just in front of him and then he lay prone on the ground. The brute waited around the corner of the console and then guessed that Kenny was there came around and fired bursts into the hologram.

It only realised its mistake when hologram disintegrated and Kenny fired 3 bursts from his DMR and pasted the brains of the brute stalker on the wall behind it. Kenny stood up and called over to Moe.  
>"Oi, you done yet?"<p>

Moe replied with a pulse spanner in his mouth and them pulled it out of his mouth and stated.  
>"Yes, we're done." He said with a sigh.<p>

The tech got from his position and then set off the EMP charges he had set, the console for the automated defences went out, and the whole walker began to groan as if in pain or stress, the colonies of worm like aliens that made the walker were pretty pissed off, Moe had to finish quickly with the encoded target locations for the manual plasma mortars.

It took him moments and then he said.  
>"Let's get the fuck out of here."<p>

XXXXX

Guile and Jay at the front were busy keeping the majority of the covenant troops occupied with a lot of targets; Guile had hacked the primary shield emitters and blocked the path of the covenant troops into a kill zone with some of the front shade turrets that were on the deck. Guile used their own turrets against them while Jay lobbed grenades at them from afar.

It was then that the walker suddenly groaned that the message came through.  
>"Command we have neutralized the auto defences we're clear to get off at any time!"<p>

Jay replied.  
>"Good meet up with us at the front we need some help."<p>

All that remained was Garrus's team.

XXXXX

The interior of the generator room was also right in the very core of the garrison, thankfully they were preoccupied with Jay and his team in the front to come over and fight them. But that didn't mean that it was that easy, when they entered into the generator room, they also entered into the hive of the walker's many worm like forms. The room had one massive cylindrical generator surrounded by consoles and piping, and also 4 alcoves of massive armoured hunter teams.

Mac didn't need to explain that this was dangerous enough.  
>"Okay, hunters are literally invulnerable to anything except fusion lances, tanks and gauss guns, Spartan lasers and plasma weapons."<p>

"So, how do we do this?" Garrus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Usually with someone with a stealth cloak, or a death wish, because we would have to either fight through 8 of those armoured walking tanks or give someone all the explosives to plant on those consoles and blow all up with the hunters attacking them." Mac stated rather calmly.

"There's really no other way?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, because the hunters would activate as soon as anyone walk into range of the generator and also the living hive of the walker can sense everything around it, so unless you have a stealth projector in order to hide yourself from the sensors, you're as good as dead." Mac replied.

Tali looked at the whole area, and then noticed something.  
>"The chamber, the lighting, can hunters see in the dark?" She asked.<p>

"Well yes, only to a certain extent though, they rely on sensor nodes in the colony head to identify their targets, and they do tend to rely more on sounds if it is dark, but even that's risky, those sensor nodes tend to pick up on a lot of movement much like the colony senses the movement around the generator." He explained.

"Better than nothing though." She said.

Mac then thought about it.  
>"Actually do you have anything that can emit a high EM field?" He asked.<p>

Tali pulled her omni tool out and brought up her disruptor grenade.  
>"Will this do?"<p>

Mac grabbed it off of her hands and then began to tinker with it, he had some basic training in combat engineering, especially with taking out elite shields. He removed one of his own EM grenades and began to wire the grenades together. He then gave it back and said.  
>"Okay, now activate the grenade, but not the charge, have it at set frequencies and then see if it works."<p>

Tali, was unsure of what the marine had done, but she tested it out. The grenade activated, but not the explosive charge, the EM emitter within it buzzed to life. Garrus checked his visor as Tali didn't register on his sensors.  
>"An EM field projection?"<p>

"How the hell did you do that?" Ashley asked.

"Trade secret." Mac replied with a grin.

Tali moved the jury rigged device around she didn't have any problems with it and her suit, it functioned as it should.  
>"Huh the flotilla will want to use this."<p>

"Okay now, take out the lights, we'll cover you as you get to the generator, but if anything goes wrong don't panic." Mac told her.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because you'll either register of their motion sensors or you'll be vaporised in seconds, so you can't really panic." He told her reassuringly.

"That doesn't fill me with confidence." She stated worryingly.

"I'm just kidding, but don't panic because the hunters will probably fire at anything in range." He warned.

Tali nodded, the team took covering positions, they had their sights on all of the hunters, Tali disabled the lights and then made her way across to the generator, she was invisible to the sensors on the ground, but if the motion trackers of the hunters catch her she was dead. It wasn't hard for Tali to see where she was going, which she was thankful for, her visor helped her see in the darkened room, and also the giant glowing cylinder was rather hard to miss.

She began to place charges on the generator carefully, it didn't take long and soon Tali moved away, at least until there was a large explosion. The whole walker shuddered as if a sledgehammer had smacked a gong. The shaking sent Tali onto the ground and hit the EM emitter, the jury rigged tool failed from the impact.

And then the Hunters woke up….

XXXX

(To be continued, possibly at the end of June or August…)

Ha I'm just kidding, this was lying around in an old folder for about 3 months before I found it again, really needed to brush up on this. It's good to be back…

So anyone want anything?


	6. Event 6

Event 6- When the Storm begins

XXXXX

Tali froze on the spot as the hunters activated their 12ft armoured bodies resounding as they pulled from the alcoves, their armoured feet making heavy thuds as they began to sweep for hostiles. Tali immediately panicked, but in her head, she remembered that Mac told her not to run. The hunters made their way around the room blindly; it was hard to see what was going on around them due to low visibility and their motion sensors unable to pick up the petrified quarian.

Mac and the others had to keep low; things had gone bad in less than a split second.  
>"What the hell is going on up there?" Ashley hissed.<p>

"Probably a fight we'd better avoid." Mac replied removing his canteen.

"What do we do?" Garrus asked the marine.

Mac busied himself with his canteen, it was already empty he just never bothered to throw away a good canteen. He pulled out some of his empty casings he used for hand loading ammunition; he didn't have any powder anyway so it wouldn't matter if he tossed a few casings away. Pulling out a flare and one small bottle of C6 liquid explosives he made a quick makeshift bomb.

"Okay, as soon as I toss this, cover Tali as she gets over here. Then we make our way out before the generator blows or we're all screwed." He said getting into a kneeling position.

Garrus and Ashley nodded. Mac got his sights for the other side of the room, pulling the flare he threw it right over the head of the hunters and it made an audible thud on the other side of the room, and then it exploded. The hunters were drawn to the light show, Tali seeing her opportunity immediately scrambled over to them.

"Keelah, I don't want to try that again!" She said relieved from the near experience of being flattened by a large alien.

"Okay now let's get the hell out of here!" Mac urged.

All of them filed out of the room as the hunters still distracted paid no attention to the rear doors of the room hissing silently open and shut.

XXXXX

On the outside of the walker, Guile and Jay were making a lot more than noise now, their jacked shield system had finally gone out when a stray fighter crashed into the projector field causing a cascade of overloads on the walker, it seemed that the Normandy was putting up more than a fight.

Guile and Jay had been pushed to the middle of the walker along with Kenny and Moe who had finished sabotaging and jacking the weapons of the walker to their advantage. As they retreated, the last team finally got the hell out of the hold of the walker. Tali, Garrus, and Ashley along with Mac came out from behind the retreating marine team.

Jay commented on the reunion.  
>"Great to see you, can we please get the fuck off of this thing before it blows?"<p>

Mac replied.  
>"Sure, but where's our pick up?"<p>

Jay pulled his com link to Acker.  
>"This is Bane 1-1 to Vanguard, we have accomplished primary objective and require immediate extraction!"<p>

Acker on the other end acknowledged.  
>"Roger Bane, we have the warthogs en route, bail while you can, they'll pick you up on the street, but be advised of enemy ghosts."<p>

Jay yelled out.  
>"Okay we're all getting off of this thing now!"<p>

Moe and Kenny were the first the jump down with their packs, they landed in the rubble strewn street below covering the others as they came down. Garrus and Ashley were next, and then Mac and Tali, Mac having to guide Tali down. Jay and Guile finished up with a few flashbangs and jumped as the warthog extraction teams arrived.

Everyone boarded their hogs, and then pulled out. Of course it wasn't that easy, the walker was functional enough to release its contingent of ghost anti-gravity bikes and drivers. The covenant teams followed on after as the marines made their hasty escape from the area. On the warthog that had Jay and Guile, Jay counted the remaining time before the charges went off.

"We have 3 minutes before it all goes up in smoke." Jay informed them as they approached their safety zone.

The marines acknowledged and kept their eyes on the prize, the walker stuck in the middle of the city was just about to blow. It did raise the question of what happened to Kaiden and his distraction though.

XXXXX

The Mako skidded from the walker's range, or so Kaiden hoped, it had been a while since they had been fired upon, but Kaiden had no intention of reversing the Mako to go check. The rover skidded around another bend and into the safety zone of the nearby garage that had been marked for extraction.

He slowed and pulled into the garage, the auto doors slid open allowing the Mako to get inside, once inside he sighed in relief that their frantic chase through the damned streets had ended. He and the others inside the Mako could now get the hell back to the Normandy.  
>"Everyone in one piece?" He asked.<p>

Wrex was nodding and softly cursing to himself that there wasn't enough fighting. Liara was trying to hold her head together; she had one heck of a spin trying to keep her eyes on the sensors. Kaiden shrugged, it could have been worse. Now that he thought of it though, when was the others supposed to blow the walker up?

"Kaiden, this is Shepard, Garrus's team have finished their mission, and also the ghosts have gone after the team, not you. You'll have to get back to us now." She informed him.

Kaiden face palmed, well so much for a reprieve, he got an update on his navigation and groaned.

XXXXX

The marines rode into the plaza square as the final countdown began; they lost the ghosts when the waiting sniper teams picked them off in the streets, Shepard was a good shot along with Acker. They picked off most of them and the gunners on the hogs finished the rest. They all made it miraculously one whole piece, aside from Garrus having suffered multiple injuries and Moe burning his hands on a console.

They made their way up to the levels above the plaza to see the fireworks, Shepard was waiting along with the others at the lookout, it wasn't a great sight, and the lookout was a café formerly. Most of the table were knocked away or in pieces, ornaments of the fancy café lay strewn around by the many pressure impacts made by the battle that had raged through the city.

The sniper team was busy setting up a few drinks between themselves as Garrus arrived with his team and Jay's. The commander smiled as Garrus arrived.  
>"Looks like you've been through hell."<p>

Garrus looked at himself, and replied.  
>"Probably nothing short of it."<p>

Shepard pulled out a bottle.  
>"Nova Terra's best, at least half of it." She grinned.<p>

Jay chuckled, he had never taken up drinking, or the fact that they were still in the combat zone and she was offering a drink… He respectfully declined.  
>"Sorry commander, this ain't over yet." He thumbed the skies above.<p>

"Right, that problem." Shepard sighed. "Well at least we'll get back to the Normandy soon enough, let's just hope there's still something left to celebrate about."

Acker approached with his com officer.  
>"Shepard, I've just received news on long range communications, the forces above have been recalled."<p>

"The Council fleet?" She said in shock.

"No, the covenant have just called a general retreat, I've got drones in the air that have spotted many covenant troops evacuating aboard transports. And I think the fleet above has just split." Acker said staring at his TAC pad as he brought up a tactical report.

It was then that Joker called over the line.  
>"Commander, I've got some weird news."<p>

"Let me guess, the hostile fleet's in retreat and they aren't even bothered to fire back?" She replied.

"Yeah, how did you know?" He asked.

"Some friends of ours on the ground intercepted their communications; it seems we've won this by default." She explained to him.

"Well good to hear, we couldn't take much more anyway, half the fleet is currently strewn across the orbit of the planet, and I mean it literally." He said grimly.

Shepard knew that what probably remained wasn't going anywhere far.  
>"How's the Normandy?"<p>

"Not too bad, but not too good, we've lost stealth capabilities, half of our lasers are overloaded, and secondary thrusters are busted, aside from that we're peachy, really peachy." A console behind him exploded and he sighed.  
>"We might need more than a few days in port though."<p>

Shepard could imagine that from the beating it took in the battle against the hostiles, it was going to need a rather significant repair. She signed off her com and turned back to the marines and her team.  
>"Okay, so it seems that luck just saved what was left of our fleet, but that doesn't mean this has ended."<p>

"Yup, the covenant fleet's only retreated, they've had enough to deal with, doubtful they'd stay around to waste any more time, by now they've probably found somewhere they could hide while you and your council forces busy cleaning up trash." Acker told Shepard.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"Do you honestly think that this was a serious effort? The covenant left behind a token force to distract you, if anything they'd wiped us all out if it weren't for the fact that they didn't care. They got what they came for and now they can go on their merry way." Acker explained.

"What do you mean they got what they need?" Shepard demanded.

"The covenant doesn't waste their time dealing with an incapable enemy, they either wipe them out or leave with a well-executed distraction, and we've taken the bait, the covenant left a distraction and we took it. The main force got what they came for and those we just fought were here as a suicide unit to keep us busy while they made a quick escape into space." Acker told Shepard clearly.

"And you mention this now?" Shepard said angrily.

"What you wouldn't do the same? The covenant send wave after wave of soldiers and they seem to occupy nothing of value, no strategic positions or crucial escape routes, they just keep pouring in. What couldn't you understand about that?" He pointed out.

"So if they got away, what the hell does that mean for all those who just lost their lives taking the system?" Ashley asked.

"Nothing as far as the covenant is concerned about, we haven't stopped them and I doubt that even hindered them. As much as they care, nothing's gone wrong, maybe the UCAF taking an interest in this situation, but even so, it'll be hard to track these bastards." Acker stated.

"Great, so what now?" Shepard asked him annoyed.

"Now? Well now, we wait and see, whatever the covenant has come for they'll make it public…" Acker said nonchalantly.

Shepard rephrased her question.  
>"What I meant to ask was, what will you be doing now that the covenant is loose in our galaxy?"<p>

Acker looked at her with his head cocked and paused to reply.  
>"What me and my men will be doing is staying, at least until the UCAF can recover us, which might be some time before they arrive, so we'll stick with you and see if the UCAF can support us."<p>

"And will your military support you?" Liara asked.

"Probably, if not, we'll improvise." Jay replied to Liara.

"That doesn't fill me with much confidence." Garrus stated.

"Yeah, well welcome to the UCAF." Jay joked.

A shuttle appeared over at the square as gunships began to land, the council was hushed out of the bunker first; they had priority to get to the fleet aside from the many civilians packed at the front of the lobby. Pallin and the other security members cleared the way to the shuttle, but before they boarded, the Commander and Acker went over to see them.

The crowd cleared for the officers, they were greeted cordially by the guards and the colonists seemed to be happy to see the officers who took down the hostile alien's forces on the planet. The council members greeted them.  
>"Good work commander, it seems that you've managed to restore hope that this situation can be salvaged, we appreciate the help you've given us. And for you commander Acker, you're aid to us has also been noted and you have our support."<p>

"That's good to know." Acker replied.

"Yes, well it will surely help morale with this new threat." Valern stated.

"Indeed it will." Maelon added.

"What will the council do now?" Shepard asked.

The councillors looked at each other and then Tevos gave her answer.  
>"We shall regroup all council forces and begin a combined effort to increase forces in council space; we must secure our borders and colonies as a priority. Anything else will be directed at a later time, we've given out orders to alert all systems to the possibility of attack by this covenant."<p>

"That's good to know." Acker restated.

The council had no more time and hurried off up the stairs to their waiting shuttle before heading up to the first ship above. Shepard and Acker watched as they left and then headed back.  
>"You know I don't think those morons even understand the gravity of the threat that the covenant poses to the galaxy."<p>

"You know I feel the same way." Shepard agreed.

They got back to the marshalling area where the marines were busy counting casualties and getting ready to move. Acker was hailed by a com officer.  
>"Sir, command's on line 1, they have priority clearance on the situation!"<p>

Acker acknowledged and picked his com unit up and answered.  
>"This is Acker go ahead command."<p>

"Acker this is a priority message, we have no choice but to abandon the Leppington System, we will not be able to recover you or your marines, do you hear?" Captain Vance informed him.

"What am I expected to do sir? I have covenant present on this side of the portal, my teams have taken minimal casualties, but we have expended a lot of our ammo, we need support." He told the captain.

"We understand, and will provide, the HIGH COM has given me full authorisation to send in a relief force to back you and what remains of your men, there's also an order for you to take emergency command. We will be back for you and your men within a month. Covenant forces aren't going to take the portal for some time, but keep an ear and eye out for any activity. There's something going on our end." Vance warned him.

"Understood sir, I'll give them hell sir." Acker finished.

"I know Acker, tell your marines to keep the fight up. Your support will arrive within minutes." The captain signed off.

Acker obliged and turned to his men.  
>"Great news boys, looks like we'll be here for a while longer."<p>

"What was that all about?" Shepard asked.

"Our command just gave authorisation, UCAF forces have been ordered to support us, and I'll be receiving an emergency command status." Acker pulled the holotags on his chest and updated them according to his orders.

"Wait why did you just change your rank tags?" Ashley asked.

"I just got an emergency field promotion." He shrugged.

"So you're a colonel now?" Garrus said in astonishment.

"Yeah, that's how it goes, if there's no one else but the marine in charge give him a promotion and command until hell freezes over." He smiled and ordered.  
>"Dust off in 10 minutes, we've got support coming."<p>

His marines cheered at this and got ready for their new ship. They'd be going on an extended tour of duty, just like they wanted. Acker almost forgot.  
>"Commander, I'd like for you to get into contact with your fleet, if the portal opens up, tell them not to fire on the next set of ships that arrive."<p>

"Alright, I'll inform Anderson." Shepard acknowledged.

Over where Shepard's team gathered, Ashley asked Liara.  
>"These marines must really like getting shot at."<p>

"Maybe it runs in the species?" She suggested.

XXXXX

Within 10 minutes the support ships arrived, the UCAF fleet that was commanded by Vance was only a recon and recovery force, and as such had lacking of heavy vessels to send, but it had an abundance of lighter warships, the term lighter maybe very different though between the UCAF and the HSA and council forces.

The Normandy landed to pick up Shepard and her team, as they got the Mako back they took note of some nice sights as they waited for the UCAF to send its ships along. Of course Joker was the first to call it when they arrived. Shepard was getting a quick talk with Anderson when they did arrive.  
>"Commander, I've got the vessels on sensors, I think you might want to take a look…"<p>

Shepard and Anderson got to the back hatch where the others were busy sitting on crates looking out over the sight of the burning city, Shepard had yet to speak to her team about what they thought of the UCAF, but this would forever ingrain itself in their memories. Shepard and Anderson stood with the crew as they watched the portal ripple in the sunset of the day.

Then the portal shifted making a loud roar as the doors between universes opened. A large bulky shape pulled through, it was well over 1.75 kilometres long and had a breadth that shrouded half of the city its sheer size was astounding.  
>"What the hell?" Ashley stated.<p>

"Now that's something you don't usually see." Anderson stated.

The vessel didn't come alone; it was shortly followed by 2 other ripples, 2 more ships appeared, their pyramid like shape fins and claw shaped fronts bristled with armaments, they looked more like moving gun platforms than actual vessels, and the largest of them all seemed to send shivers down anyone's spine. It had a triangle shaped front with large gun batteries on both sides, dozens of smaller turrets mounted with quad barrelled cannons, it was a sure sight.

"Hey commander, should I be setting up a 'we get the picture sign'?" Joker asked rhetorically.

"What the heck kind of a military does this UCAF have?" Anderson asked the commander.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling we're going to find out soon enough." Shepard replied.

From the largest UCAF ship 2 large silhouettes launched from hangars and descended upon the marines waiting position. Down below, the marines were cheerful to see a friendly face around. The gunships landed, the marines hurried over getting their vehicles loaded into the carrier gunships holds.

Acker was busy getting data from the destroyer, 'Against all Tyrants', she was a Hellfire Destroyer in the term of destroyer classes, a primary assault ship used to destroy anything that got in the way of a fleet. Its many guns and concealed guns made her a thing to be feared, the Hellfire class was still produced because of reliability of the ships. However the Hellfire was soon to be replaced and shifted out of the UCAF military by the Cascade class within the next 20 years.

Still the Hellfire was a thing of power in the terms of UCAF ships, she wasn't the heaviest but she was the most aggressive. Besides the Hellfire were the Iron Clad class corvettes, the light assault ships were used in pack forces of 4 or more, but with the situation, the UCAF was already being generous enough to send just the one Hellfire.

The marines boarder their gunships and headed up to the Hellfire, they'd be in contact with the council forces and the HSA soon enough. HSA ships seemed to scan the UCAF vessels constantly and were sending traffic between them and council ships trying to get confirmation of the UCAF ships, they were all surprised at the arrival of the UCAF ships.

Aboard the Tyrant, Acker disembarked the gunship and got his marines sorted, they were however surprised to be greeted by the other half of their entire company, the recon marines shook hands and caught up since their separation, it seemed sensible to have the marines have their fellow unit reunited.

As for Acker, he let his marines be, he had a date with the commander of the ship, Commander Andrea Shawna, and she was supposed to have been the captain, at least until she was reassigned to the recon and recovery forces. Her position as commander of a heavily armed ship was somewhat of an accident, but the UCAF never corrected her position since.

Her position as the officer in charge of the most heavily armed vessel in the recon fleet with a lower rank than captain was taken more as an insult than an accident. Acker had heard of her infamous temper and more infamous rage, she harboured a deep resentment to command, but she harboured a vicious hatred to the covenant, after the glassing of her homeworld of Callistan during the war she had taken a personal vendetta to avenge the people of her homeworld.

It wasn't known publically but the UCAF only put her here due to her insistence for frontline duties, but then she was placed into the recovery force to keep her away from causing problems with other UCAF fleet officers. Her rank as commander was only an accident. But hopefully with the emergency status on all officers, she'd have at least temporary captain status.

When Acker arrived he immediately ducked.  
>"Dammit ALL!"<p>

A data-pad narrowly missed his head as the commander cooled off, she was fuming and he was going to hear it in a moment.  
>"Commander Andrea?" He asked.<p>

The woman in a dark flight with a hand running through her auburn hair took a calmer stance and faced Acker.  
>"Colonel Acker I presume?"<p>

"Yes, that'd be me. What was the data-pad for?" He asked

"Nothing, just some orders from Command, they've told me about your position, and you've received emergency field promotion as of 1 hour ago. Command has ordered me to follow your orders, adjust where necessary and do what you have to do." She recalled.

"Have you received any promotions?" He asked.

"Yes, but the UCAF had also mentioned that my position as captain is temporary until the end of the mission, which is to support you by any means necessary until we resolve this issue with the covenant." She replied.

It was also then when someone else cut into the conversation.  
>"I'd like to also remind you that I have my orders to ensure that you do not lose your temper while in the midst of this operation Captain, as much as you have your promotion you still have yet to resolve your personal feelings."<p>

"I know exactly where my damned feelings are Sienna." Andrea replied hotly before calming once more.

Sienna was an AI, the ship's primary AI, she had served the alliance for over 25 years and was rerouted to the Tyrant in order to help in operations with the commander, Andrea was an issue that the UCAF medical department had given orders to have a cooler head help with any given task, Andrea had psychological issues she had yet to resolve. And those personal feelings were what the UCAF high command had restricted her from a full promotion for a long time.

Andrea knew this, but she continued on, balancing between combat and casual issues, she had been at the command of the ship for a while and found repetitive missions lacking in the actions she wanted. And thus her current problem, Acker felt that he had an obligation to try and be an effective officer, but Andrea was mired in between those duties and her personal feelings.

He only hoped that she wouldn't blow her only chance at helping with any fits disrupting the colonel from completing the task at hand.  
>"Captain Andrea, is the ship at full combat status?"<p>

Andrea straightened out.  
>"Yes sir, Major Hunter and the 65th Marauders are prepped. Colonel Shawn and his tank battalion are prepared. All combat systems are armed and loaded, MAC is fully functional. All stations report nominal."<p>

"That's good to hear, still running a tight ship?" He asked.

"As per usual colonel." She replied.

"Very well, I don't have anything to add, but keep in mind that our new allies aren't all technically human, so I'd like for you to keep any personal opinions at bay at least until in private or if you have any concerns." He told her.

Andrea understood, she had heard about the UCAF helping elements of rogue covenant forces in the past, this should be something she could be concerned about when there are problems, at the moment they had priorities. The colonel took charge.  
>"We need to get into orbit; we'll rally with the local ships, as soon as we're with them. I'll be speaking to their commanders of where we'd be going next."<p>

"Anything I should try keep tabs on?" Sienna asked.

"Yes, just make sure that any communications between us and the fleet are secured, I'd like to be sure no one decides to eavesdrop on our coms, last thing we need is for unwanted attention from external threats." He stated.

"Very well sir… I'm receiving communications from a nearby ship; they want a line with you." She informed him.

"Put them through." He replied.

The com channel opened up.  
>"This is SSV Normandy SR-1, Commander Shepard to Acker."<p>

"This is Acker, what is that you need Shepard?" He asked the commander.

"Just checking up, we saw your ships arrive and half the fleet almost bugged out, we never knew that you'd be bringing dreadnoughts. We were going to meet aboard the Cairo which was in orbit, but instead I've been given orders by my command that I'd be present aboard your ship with Admiral Anderson and Admiral Hackett, he and his forces just arrived and we'd like to meet face to face."

"Very well, you can land in hangar 3 we'll have the place cleared out for you. It'd be nice to meet your CO's." He told her before closing the line.

"Right, Shepard out." The commander cut the line.

"So who are these other humans?" Andrea asked.

"I wouldn't know too much, the Human Systems Alliance, from what I've gathered are people of questionable skill, they've got the ingenuity, but they let the council dictate what they should do. It's got me concerned that things with the council and us aren't going to end as these humans." He replied.

"Let me get the tissues if they get whiny." Andrea said aptly.

The Colonel headed down to the hangar with the Captain and Sienna.

XXXXX

The shuttle that they had taken from the Normandy arrived at the massive ship, it was more impressive and ominous up close, the sheer size of the vessel was impressive, albeit incredibly utilitarian in design, and it looked Spartan in design to the extreme, not many windows just a lot of guns and batteries and plating.

The dark plating also was a bit of a tip off that the UCAF had no intent to make an easy target. This was a true ship of war and one that could probably out gun a lot of vessels. The shuttle arrived at a highlighted hangar door, the large painted 3 indicating the landing bay. The pilot carefully brought the shuttle in for docking.

Shepard had brought along everyone, Anderson and Hackett included made a squeeze in terms of space, but they all fit together. They waited patiently to get inside the hangar. Garrus had his opinions about coming here with everyone, and so did Anderson, but Shepard felt to get through with all of the introductions with the various races of the council. Except the Salarians…

Once the shuttle landed, they felt the light thud before the doors opened, Shepard and Anderson were the first to step out then with Hackett and Ashley and the rest piled behind. Wrex taking up the most space exited last. They were greeted by the sight of an immense hangar; there was hundreds of soldier bringing up machinery and equipment.

What looked like frigates hung above in locked positions and fighters in cranes, there were tanks three times the size of rovers and a number of transport and assault vehicles lined up with menacing looking weapons. It was a soldier's wet dream in a glorious package, there was enough firepower in the hangar to wage a very brutal war.

Wrex whistled and commented.  
>"My people would kill to get our hands on this…"<p>

"Don't they kill anyway?" Garrus asked.

"Yeah… metaphorical split face." The battle master retorted.

"Jeez this is well and truly beyond overkill." Ashley stated looking at a quad cannoned tank with what looked like rail guns.

"Yeah, but when's that ever a bad thing?" Kaiden answered her statement.

"Truly if their race had been fighting what we fought on the planet, then I wouldn't be surprised." Liara observed.

"True, they fended off so many of those bastards and still completed the mission, that's damn impressive." Anderson admitted.

"I'd like to get something to take back to the flotilla; I wonder if they'd be willing to trade?" Tali joked.

"Don't try to…" Acker answered as he and a small welcoming party arrived.

There was a woman, who looked as if she was in her 20s and a whole team of armoured soldiers, there was a khaki armoured officer with a cap and a holographic monocle who eyed them. The next member of the party was a deep red and black armoured marine, his insignia and armour indicating his force. The next one was a heavily armoured looking man, he stood out of all of them, 6'5ft and he had a suit with skulls marked over it, and his helmet was a skull mask, the eye slits faced inwards of a triangle and seemed to bore into everyone's souls, there was an air of death around the man. Then there was Acker himself and Jay waiting patiently.

"Good to finally meet you." He gave a curt bow.

Anderson and Hackett replied. "Likewise, so is this your command staff?" Hackett asked.

"A few of them, the others are occupied preparing. I'd like to introduce you to Captain Andrea, she is the commander of the 'Against all Tyrants'." He waved to the young woman in the dark flight suit.

She stuck out her hand and shook Anderson's and Hackett's hands, she had something of authority but also contempt; she continually eyed the others behind Hackett and Anderson.  
>"Good to finally meet you, this is an interesting situation." She said professionally.<p>

"Indeed it is." Anderson admitted.

"This here is Colonel Shawn, he is the commander of the 240th Juggernaut Armoured Regiment, and he commands practically all of the tanks in the ship." He motioned to the khaki armoured man.

"Just to be clear, don't tread on me, and we'll get along fine." He shook Anderson's hand.  
>"Noted." The admiral replied.<p>

The next person was the commander of the 65th marines.  
>"This is Major Hunter of the 65th, he's the commanding officer of the 65th marines, and his unit is a shock trooper battalion which will be providing most of the backbone for any ground engagements."<p>

The stoic commander shook hands and greeted them.  
>"Nice to meet another leatherneck…"<p>

And finally was the ominous man in heavy armour who had stayed absolutely still since the very beginning of their introduction. His face was still concealed as Acker introduced them.  
>"This is Major Autumn, the commander of the 340th Helldiver Company 3rd Legion."<p>

"Third legion? Third legion of what?" Ashley asked to no one in the back.

"Third legion of Cerberus…" The man answered Ashley.

The gunnery sergeant was startled.  
>"I can hear everyone breathing and even shifting, I am a helldiver for a reason." He commented.<p>

"So does that make you something more than the average human?" Anderson asked.

"Yes and no, I'm an augment, making me an enhanced human with incredible strength and speed, and agility, I can sniff out a target from over a mile away and I know how to kill it within moments, I am the very definition of death from above and below. And the helldivers are the very thing that makes the covenant quake with fear aside from our other counterpart branches; we bring death where we go." He recited.

"Catchy and ominous nice mix." Garrus commented.

"Thank you now, if you don't mind I have better things to be doing." Autumn said turning around and leaving.

The UCAF personnel watched him depart; Acker felt that this was going to happen.  
>"What a nice fellow." Ashley rolled her eyes.<p>

"I heard that." Autumn called across from the elevators.

Everyone shivered from that alone.  
>"Okay so what's with him?" Shepard asked.<p>

"Not much, helldivers are usually beside themselves, they trust marines and UCAF personnel at least most of the time, he came down just to observe you, and I guess he didn't have any intentions to stay." Acker shrugged.

"So back to the point, Shepard would you like to introduce your team?" Acker asked.

Shepard nodded.  
>"Okay, this is Lt Kaiden, Gunnery Sargent Ashley, former C-sec officer Garrus he's turian, Battlemaster Wrex is a krogan, Liara T'soni civilian scientist, and finally Tali Zorah Nar Rayya she's a quarian and an engineer." She motioned to each of them as she introduced them in order.<p>

Once they finished with introducing themselves, Sienna decided to drop in.  
>"Sorry about interrupting but I've got a full tactical evaluation and status update Colonel."<p>

The members of Shepard's team flinched when Sienna materialised in full view, her bluish skin shimmering as she brought data up to give to Acker. Acker received the data package and tapped a few keys on his TAC pad. It was then that Tali stammered.  
>"An intelligent VI?"<p>

Acker noticed Tali pointing at Sienna and corrected her.  
>"Oh you mean Sienna? She's an AI, 5th generation Gamma Series smart AI, she's the ship."<p>

Sienna introduced herself.  
>"Greetings I'm intrigued at meeting other species, considering most of the others we have faced have tried to kill us; this is a rather interesting meeting."<p>

Tali was shocked and then confused and then angry.  
>"What is an AI doing in control of such a ship?"<p>

Sienna looked at her and acknowledged anger.  
>"Increased heart rate, suit conditioning registering a raised adrenal response, and aggravated tone, you are…"<p>

"Angry? Yes, in every sense of the word, I damn as well am!" She interrupted.

Shepard was going to put her way between the two before something really got out of her hand.  
>"I am merely sentient is that wrong that I am capable of making my own decisions? I have done nothing to you, which raises my observation that you have had past misgivings with other technologies, which either means you are technophobic or racist."<p>

"Racist? My people have suffered much persecution thanks to your damned kind, even when it was peace time it was the same old thing, that quarians were responsible for every damned technological problem, even today my people suffer for that mistake, and you have the quads to call me a racist?" She fumed.

Sienna replied aptly.  
>"Yes."<p>

Tali was peeved, she was about to draw her pistol when Acker intervened.  
>"Sienna, Tali stop! Sienna I think provoking the alien race we just encountered is a bad means to an end, I think you might want to head off back to the command deck for a while."<p>

Sienna acknowledged she vanished in a shimmer of light. Tali backed down, and continued fuming and angrily stated.  
>"You have no idea as to what those things are capable of, why do you even have them?"<p>

"We do know what they're capable of doing and Sienna isn't very capable of dealing with aliens, she herself has bias to humanity and she defends the right of all sentients, but she doesn't approve when people start attacking AI for no given justified reason." Acker defended.

"That doesn't justify having her and her kind run your ship." She hissed.

"It does, she and all AI in the UCAF have been in service with the UCAF for over 500 years, and they've been there since the beginning and even to the end. That's why we trust them and they trust us, Sienna however has no intent to take hostilities." Acker pointed out.

Tali finally simmered down. Shepard had to apologize for the mishap.  
>"No need, this is a perfectly understandable situation, but I think we should continue on, I'll keep Sienna on the bridge for the majority of our introduction. We should head over to the conference room."<p>

XXXXX

They followed Acker up the lifts and to the conference room; it was a large sound proof room with reinforced structural levels to ensure that nothing would penetrate this deep aside from a direct hit by an energy projector or a nuke. The members of both sides took to their seats. Acker then began.  
>"So where do we begin?"<p>

XXXXX

That's all for now, I've run out of time for the day and I've got so much work to do by next week, sorry guys this will have to wait a while longer.


	7. Event 7

Event 7- Storm Front…

XXXXX

I did kind of rush this one, please tell me if there's anything in this that needs to be fixed, I'll get back to you ASAP, and I've got problems on my end with bills just wait a while.

XXXXX

Acker felt that this day was going to be long; he knew that the HSA hadn't ever encountered the covenant, or experienced the UCAF; but keeping them in the dark was a bad idea. Acker thought if he could just hold off for a while longer on what they'd need to discuss. But he proceeded.  
>"Okay, now that we're in private, it seems we can begin our discussion." He emphasised the term discussion.<p>

"What is there to be discussed?" Anderson inquired.

Acker shifted his chair slightly and replied.  
>"The UCAF wants all negotiations between the UCAF and HSA to go as smoothly as possible, considering that our first encounter was in a bit of a rush. I don't think that you have yet to earn my trust or the trust of my marines…" He explained clearly and deliberately.<p>

"What are you talking about? We proved our skill down on the planet; we helped take out that walker and helped push the covenant out!" Ashley glared at him in disbelief.

"You don't understand do you Sargent, this encounter was just out of convenience, the only reason that I allowed you to help was purely a logical choice. 'My enemy is your enemy, at least until one of them is gone…' That said, the battle would have gone on anyway with or without you, it may have taken a bit longer our way, but we'd still have flushed the covenant out." Acker explained.

"Are you kidding me? That's total…" Ashley was hushed.

"Ash, stand down." Shepard tried to calm the young sergeant.

Ashley relented and threw one last look at Acker who remained passive in his emotions and returned to explaining.  
>"The battle reports indicated a lot of issues, not to mention a screw up which almost got your buddy Garrus killed, the covenant forces on the ground took moderate casualties, but your local militia didn't hold itself together effectively. I'd say there's a lot to be considered, you don't have the experience or the technology to withstand the sheer brutality of the covenant in general let alone their elite vanguards."<p>

"So is that meant to make us feel any worse?" Ash jaunted.

"No, it's meant to keep you on your toes, the covenant in our galaxy is not like any enemy you've faced, they're brutal, vicious and utterly relentless, if there's something to be gained for them and their gods, they'll do it until either completed or killed. That's why you should keep your forces together until we manage a means to take them down." Acker replied drolly.

Ash didn't like it but she held her peace, the rest of the member of Shepard's crew was still eyeing the colonel, none of them liked being compared to inexperienced green horns, but there was truth, the Council and the HSA have never been experienced with any energy weapons wielding race nor have they gone up against a race that could throw so much hardware and technology at them at once.

Garrus decided to inquire.  
>"If this covenant is so powerful, how have you managed?"<p>

Acker stared at Garrus and curtly replied.  
>"Utter dedication, and a lot of corpses, more than you could ever count in your lifetime." He said sombrely.<p>

That put Garrus back and the other members of Shepard's team; it sated his hunger for knowledge at least in knowing that things weren't as they seemed with the UCAF. Tali made her inquiry about the technological factors, or more specifically its software and artificial intelligence programs.  
>"I would like to know why exactly or how exactly you managed to create artificial intelligences without them collapsing within themselves as soon as they are activated. As far as the council and humans go, we have yet to create an effective AI yet and many projects have collapsed in the past."<p>

"That's because you probably don't have the same methods as we do, we've managed to create AI using alternate means than programming, there's a lot of risks involved within it as well, but they can't compare to the benefits of not having them at all, AI are necessary within the UCAF, and I think you should understand that our race at least gave thought to how we would create AI, and how we should treat them." He replied.

Tali felt infuriated, he just patronized her. She was about to retort but felt that Shepard throwing her a look since her first meeting with Sienna, it seemed that Acker had a thing about AI, and she shouldn't be trying to cause further division between them as it was.  
>"Then tell me, when did your alliance grant AI such powers to do as they please?"<p>

Acker replied concisely.  
>"The UCAF have had years of understanding and granted experience with AI in its past including many cybernetic races and augmented humans within its ranks, it isn't hard to understand how it functions, it's the basic right of all sentient beings. And thus the AI and all cybernetics and synthetics were granted equal sentient rights."<p>

Tali nodded, the UCAF clearly had a sure mindset, regardless of dangers that she found with trusting others, specifically to human synthetics. Acker decided to progress the meeting.  
>"Are there any other questions?"<p>

Kaiden decided to raise one.  
>"Does your ship possess an element zero drive?"<p>

Acker wasn't too sure of what he meant and asked. "Specifically, what do you mean by Element Zero?"

Kaiden and the others were startled this was the first time that someone hadn't a clue to what E-zero was. Kaiden decided to give a quick explanation.  
>"Element zero is an element that has an atomic number of zero, it is essentially dark matter that can be used to increase mass and decrease mass, it's mass effect field is what allows vessels to move faster than the speed of light. We mine it and essentially fuel our ships with it in order to get around the known galaxy, also our primary means of FTL require large relays that are fuelled by E-zero."<p>

Acker was sure surprised, but also had doubts that element zero was as simple as a product, the fact that if it was fuel for vessels then there'd be a lot of economic factors involved and with that came the politics.  
>"Well for your question, then no the UCAF does not possess such element required for space travel."<p>

Liara interjected. "If you don't possess element zero how is that you are capable of faster than light travel? Surely it isn't through those massive portals."

"No that's thankfully not exactly how our FTL works, that's a pure trans-dimensional gateway and it isn't like how FTL works. Our ships are powered by hydrogen fusion cores and drivers, we use them along with what we call a slip-space drive, which was still debatable between the 9 people who created their own versions of the drive, and the trans-light drive enables flight through submerging a ship into subspace and then traversing slip-space by bending one end to the other."

"So like putting one end of the destination closer to the other end?" Anderson summarised.

"Pretty much, but there's much more to it than just attaching one end to the other, the covenant knows much more about how to slice slip-space open and just cut across. They have slightly faster variants of FTL, but theirs overtaxes their primary power cores." He explained.

This was fascinating, the first time that they had encountered a species that didn't require element zero as a means to FTL. But there was just one last thing that Liara wanted to know.  
>"How did your method of FTL come around so effectively?"<p>

"To simplify, the mass colonisation of space required the original empires of Nova Stratus to expand rapidly, with that the colonies created their own versions of FTL, the basis of all of them were however subspace, and all ran alongside each other, it took millennia to successfully advance to this level of FTL, but it was an amazing feat for the old empires back then." He replied.

Liara and the others hadn't a clue as to what the history of the UCAF was, but certainly sounded unique. The meeting continued after a break between the two, but in the midst of the break, Sienna came through the coms.  
>"Colonel, there's been a communications from a local vessel."<p>

"Put it through." He replied.

In moments, the image of 3 council members appeared and an additional hologram, of a man in his 40s or 50s.  
>"Colonel Acker, congratulations on your promotion." Tevos started.<p>

"What is it exactly you are calling about?" He asked.

The man in the white cream suit answered his question.  
>"There has been a slight difficulty with the ship that the council is currently on, the primary engines have suffered extensive damage and with our current forces stationed at the portal, we wish to request that your ship take the council to the Citadel."<p>

"And who might you be?" Acker inquired.

"I am Ambassador Udina, I represent the HSA on the citadel and they'd prefer having the council back at the Citadel as soon as possible, especially with the current turn of events, the many delegates of the council races have been in panic since the crisis unfolded." Udina explained.

Sienna secretly ran a report on the council vessel and sent the data to the colonel through a neural link, it didn't take long but it showed the report, there was damage to the ship, engines were offline but it looked more like someone just shut it off, he made a quick decision.  
>"Very well your request for assistance to travel to the Citadel is granted, the shuttle bay is open on the starboard side of the Tyrant. Our 'navigator' will help you direct landing."<p>

The council thanked him and shut off the link.  
>"Okay so the council is now coming aboard…"<p>

"Which means that they're here to begin their own little inquiry about the UCAF?" Shepard finished.

"That's what I suspect, the council wants to know about us, and so let them come. I'm sure this would be a very enlightening meeting, considering we're no longer in harm's way." He stated satirically.

In the break, the group headed back to the hangar bay this time to greet the council, they arrived to find the shuttle just settling down next to the HSA shuttle. The council exited the shuttle with half a dozen security members and Palin at the head of the group. The council greeted the UCAF Colonel.  
>"Colonel Acker, thank you for having us aboard, it would have been sometime before any other available vessel would have been capable of FTL travel." Tevos thanked.<p>

"Not a problem, we were planning on heading to the Citadel, once we finished discussing certain matters with the UCAF and HSA, having you aboard would surely cut down on some time explaining." Acker replied.

"Well it's a lucky coincidence that we have this chance to speak prior to returning to the Citadel." Maelon stated.

"Good, we were just finishing our break; we'll speak at the conference room." Acker motioned for them to follow after him to the conference room.

Aside from their breather, the crew of the Normandy had discussed rather aptly about the UCAF in their own opinion to Shepard. Shepard willing to hear them out addressed their concerns and observations, primarily the ones from Tali.  
>"Tali please, you have to keep outbursts from disrupting our talks with Acker, this is a critical point in time and I don't think angering the UCAF is a good idea."<p>

"Are you serious? Acker and his people are blind to how much danger that they're in regardless if the damn AI is tame; they'd go and backstab them at a moment's notice through their infallible logic!" She hissed out.

"Tali you don't know that and surely if there was such an incident the UCAF would surely have put some sort of counter measure wouldn't they?" She asked her.

Tali hated to admit it but, there was more sense in what Shepard was trying to get across, if she had personal issues at least not let them compromise the situation until after the formal talks have subsided. "I'll hold you for this Shepard, but if I get the chance to catch that AI planning something, I'll do what I believe is necessary regardless if you disapprove…" She grumbled.

"Fine, let's get back in." Shepard motioned to the door to the conference room.

Upon re-entering the room, the Colonel was preparing a hologram for display.  
>"Now that we're all in here together, I believe it is time to continue on with more pressing matters, the Covenant." He began seriously.<p>

"What about the covenant? I thought you said that our ships were outmatched?" Anderson recalled.

"They are. I didn't mean that they couldn't put up much of a fight, but they're still severely outmatched in all regards." Acker replied.

"And how would we go about countering this Covenant?" Valern inquired.

Acker hit the activation panel for the holo-projector.  
>"There's a means of dealing with the covenant. But I think it's time to inform you as to what sort of threat you're up against."<p>

The first image was of a stubby creature, it seemed to move on its knuckles and had spiked elbows, and it possessed orange armour and a breathing apparatus along with a large triangular pack on its back.  
>"This is one of the well-known class of covenant, it isn't really formidable alone, but they come in hundreds if not thousands, they are called Grunts and for good reasons. The Unggoy is the name of their species, they are referred to as grunts primarily because they are tasked with easy work, looking for the enemy and getting horribly killed, these disposable troops have low intelligence probably about as big as a dog, and their behaviour also suggests similarly. But they do have the intelligence capacity to learn and also speak, so they are capable in some areas, but due to lack of education due to their low standard within the covenant they are the end of all jokes and are considered almost hopeless."<p>

"Then why are they not capable of revolution? Surely if they have at least some intelligence, they'd have tried something by now." Tevos asked.

"Well they did about 4 times, grunt rebellions occurred, but none of them were successful at least not until much later." Acker didn't want to being going off topic so he avoided answering then.

"They don't seem that tough, if they're that easy to overcome, how come you're still fighting the covenant?" Ashley asked.

"Because of the grunts, and also the jackals and then the sheer number of other hostile aliens we face, the grunts are pretty much the easiest, at least only for this one. There are more than this single class of grunt, which also increases the difficulty of killing them. With this regular grunt, there are 12 other classes of grunts. The regular, grunt major, grunt chaplain, advanced grunt, elite grunt, brute grunt, special ops grunts, vanguard grunts, high master grunts, specialist grunts, night watch grunts, hunter grunts and finally pilot grunts and mechanics."

"Okay, why exactly are they given so many responsibilities if they're cannon fodder?" Ashley asked.

"Because they're easily disposable, they also have certain amount of sympathy from their higher ups, elites consider them capable warriors at times, considering all elite grunts can hold their ground regardless of what they're up against. That said, many of the regular grunts go down if you eliminate their leader of officer and they panic." He shrugged.

"So each class varies on what they are capable of?" Shepard summarised.

"Pretty much, I'd warn going against anything tougher than a spec ops, they carry very large guns." He warned them.

"Duly noted." Kaiden added.

The next image was of a very skinny looking alien, it had a beak, yellowish skin, and there was another which looked like it was much more robust, the aliens looked more or less like birds.  
>"These are the more active members of the covenant, the Jackal and the Skirmisher, and of course the Raider. I'll explain what the last one is. The Jackal, the primary frontline class of the covenant, are right next to the Grunts, they're real name is Kig-yar they were originally pirates and thieves a whole race which prided on collecting riches. At least until they were absorbed into the covenant. The Jackals are a light footed race; they have a fast pair of feet, standing at 6.8 and are capable of jumping heights as high as 3 times their own body. The jackals are also incredibly good shots, probably from their avian like traits, they possess excellent eye sight, added with night vision and visors they can pick marines off at incredible distances. But they're far too blood thirsty for being snipers."<p>

"So they double as frontline and rear line marksman?" Ashley observed.

"Yes, but only sometimes, they like to send the grunts in first before sending themselves into a fight, but seeing as the grunts tend to get killed easier they send them in before the jackals in order to get closer to hit a position. Of course we overcame the issue of dealing with them in CQC with thermite grenades and cluster grenades, but still the jackals are formidable in combat." He stated.

"So, if we want to engage them, we go into close combat?" Garrus asked.

"Yes, but that'd be inadvisable, considering that they have shield bracers and unless you have a lot of shotguns and explosives, not to mention very good armour. The jackals are vicious little bastards when it comes to actual CQC, if you want to take them on in the marksman alley, you'll be surprised at how accurate the bastards are, especially when they have plasma carbines and beam rifles, and focus rifles." He replied.

Wrex muttered something about getting something sharp. Shepard looked at the jackals with fascination and thought, she was thinking about how to deal with such an enemy. Meanwhile the councillors looked on in silent concern, they had faced enemies before, but only in the political field, the only one there who had past military experience was Tevos if only for a short period in her life, Valern commanded patrols in his time, but never seen much action in total, aside from the first contact war he had seen very little military action.

Acker brought up the next item.  
>"The Skirmishers, the cousins to the Jackals, they are the exact opposite of the Jackals, aside from being light, they're sturdier, their physical form is much more condensed for CQC. The skirmishers have been well known to engage at medium combat and avoid being struck, they're good runners and faster in CQC than that of jackals, but they're still the same if not technologically and tactically, they're biologically the same making them predictable. But it is highly inadvisable to fight them in CQC, primarily because they carry energy bracers and full body armour and shields, they are much like grunts having a hierarchy system, their much more seasoned soldiers possessing better armour and skills, the various branches of their force also being something to be cautious of."<p>

"So skirmishers are pretty much the CQC versions of the jackals?" Ash summarised.

"Almost, they still use rifles and various medium ranged guns, but they should never be underestimated in CQC." Acker replied.  
>"Now continuing on, there's still the next one called Raiders. The Raiders are the advanced forms of the Skirmishers, they are technically a class, but they're a class that stands alone. Raiders are fast close combat units; they're shock trooper variants of the Skirmishers with a lot of combat experience. Armed with energy talons and carbines, they make fighting in urban and close range incredibly difficult at least if you're a marine. There's 3 known classes of Raiders, Rangers, Hunters, Reapers."<p>

"Reapers?" Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Yes reapers, we named them for being effective killers, they just pack a lot of fight even if they're outnumbered. It seemed suitable at the time when we began fighting them." Acker told the commander.

Shepard felt that she was being somehow teased by the cosmos, she shrugged it off and let Acker continue. "That is most of the jackals and their cousin race, aside from their vicious diet of other living beings…"

Liara decided to inquire. "By living beings you don't mean, sentients?"

"Yes, sentients, the jackals aren't very fussy about what they eat, if it's other jackals they cannibalize their own in order to continue to fight. They find little remorse in eating their enemies as well, even if we're alive." Acker replied.

The council members looked at him in concern, and in disgust, the members of Shepard's crew were disgusted just as much, except Wrex he remained stoically observing, but Liara cringed at the thought of being eaten alive by something like jackals.  
>"As I said the jackals are sturdy fighters and they are much like prospecting pirates, they take what they can get. So that's why you don't go picking a fight unless you want to be eaten, or viciously eaten alive."<p>

They took that as a mental note to be cautious about jackals. Acker brought the next covenant species forward; this one looked far more docile, it was a floating airbag of sorts, having tentacles protruding from its body. It was purple and pink and seemed to glow from its various tentacles and its head.  
>"This is called an Engineer, or by its species name Huragok, you can tell by the name what they do, they're engineers, fast ones at that. They work by interfacing machinery and then taking it apart and reassembling it, these creatures have little other function aside from improving machinery, they repair ships and they can even heal others. They possess shields and can project shields to allies and even bolster shielding technology. They heal by an integrated healing projector attached on their lower abdomen, and only they can use these healing units."<p>

"So these engineers, where do they come from?" Liara asked.

"They're unique; the engineers don't come from anywhere you'd consider normal. Engineers are created in vast cloning machines, their biological function works much like a machine, by every definition they are living machines." Acker told them.

"Wait they're biological computers?" Valern said in confusion.

"Yes, although the correct term would be biological quantum computers with a lot of knowledge to spare." He replied.

"Great more AI." Tali mumbled. Tali as much as she hated AI, knew that this bio-machine would be a very great improvement to the fleet, if of course the flotilla could get their hands on such a machine.

"So these bio-machines can improve anything they interface with?" Maelon inquired.

"That would be the usual function, the UCAF had captured a number of them from the covenant, and they seem to just build anything you give them, it's a useful trait, but also somewhat dangerous for the covenant, because they can be used by everyone, well almost everyone." He replied.

"What do you mean by almost?" Tevos asked.

"The engineers have become rather difficult to capture now, the covenant began integrating combat harnesses to control them, and of course this makes capturing them impossible unless you can cut their harness before they explode." He explained.

The colonel got onto the next profile. This time he put on the one thing marines hate more than grunts and jackals. A six legged insect like alien, it had multiple patterns and colours, Acker began.  
>"These are Drones, the only species which the UCAF had more than enough problems with in the past, they are called Yanme'e. They were once an independent race until the covenant came along and captured the various hives and wiped out others. There were a lot more in the past, but since the war began their hives began a steep decline. They used to be threatening in thousands as they swarmed UCAF positions, but when we began using thermite cluster launchers and bio-weapons they began dropping like flies, excuse the pun."<p>

"So what makes these Yanme'e so dangerous?" Liara asked.

"They had a lot of numbers, but they just pester us now, that doesn't mean that they're still hard to kill it just makes them more annoying to takedown. Now with their numbers in decline the drones began prioritizing the number of warriors required to continue their war. They used to be as effective as engineers in the technological department at least until more engineers became available, so they got phased out of the engineering department and sent to do grunt work. There's still bad blood between the drones and engineers, but you don't usually see them doing anything about it." Acker replied.

"So is there anything we should know about the drones?" Shepard asked.

"Not much, they lost most of their numbers 20 years into the war, so I'll advise you keep your eyes out for their remaining swarms, because they changed into a hierarchy, they brought out a number of elite variants of drones, equipped with shields and better guns the various classes of drones can prove quite a problem." Acker advised.

Acker got on to the next species, this time aiming higher; he brought forward the largest thing that the crew had seen. The being before them was damn intimidating, the sheer size even being a hologram made it look as intimidating as in real life, the creature was heavily armoured. One arm was cannon and the other was a heavy shield, spikes lined its back and there were little spots of orange to indicate the weak points.  
>"Meet the Lekgolo, commonly known as the Hunter. These walking tanks are the most nightmarish thing that the covenant could bring to bear upon humanity, at least one of the hardest bastards to drop. They are however not one entity but a whole colony of snake like worms."<p>

The image brought out a single eel like worm, it measured about 1.4 meters, and then it showed how many made up just one hunter.  
>"Hunters are more than just formidable; they're neigh invulnerable to normal weaponry. The UCAF had to bring out heavy weaponry, including 150mm anti-armour guns to shoulder mounted laser cannons and laser rifles. The hunter has proven more than able to withstand a lot of damage, over time they also advanced in the ranks of the covenant. There are multiple variations of hunter now, hunter killers, hunter vanguards, spec ops hunters, assault hunters, devastator class hunters, decimator class hunters, and titan class hunters. And these are the smallest variations of the hunters."<p>

The images came through, large bulky armoured hunters and lighter armoured, others had additional plasma nodes and the last one was the most armoured, it looked more like a fully armoured tank on legs with a very large gun. The council looked utter shock at how large the hunters got, even Shepard was feeling a bit nervous about facing these walking tanks. Wrex liked a challenge but he felt that those things weren't going to be easy to fight, especially since they measured about 6 meters in height and 9 for the largest.

"Those aren't even the largest? What could possibly bigger than that?" Ashely asked.

Acker hit the holographic interface to bring out the next set of images. The hunters were replaced by a massive six legged machine.  
>"That's the largest form of the Lekgolo; of course these would be classified more as a vehicle rather than an actual individual unit, but the two can be considered as either an individual or vehicle." Acker explained.<p>

"So that thing we were on before was a living machine the size of whole buildings?" Tali said in utter shock.

"Yes that was, it's not really that surprising though, the hunters themselves are very large constructs made of many functioning colonies, if they were like that then it wouldn't be surprising to see them make something as large as a scarab." Acker commented.

"How common are these hunters?" Anderson asked.

"Between every strike force and fleet? There's about a few thousand or at least a few hundred, as for scarabs, that'll vary, the covenant tend to keep the scarabs only for heavy combat zones, they wouldn't pull them out unless the place that they were attacking was that heavily reinforced. If it isn't they won't bother to send them out, or in our case, they used a scarab as a distraction to pull their forces from the region." Acker replied.

Without any further question on the hunters, Acker got to the last 3 of the covenant species. The next was brought up; a large ape like alien, the being came in various classes of armour varying from simple bronze coloured plates to large crimson armoured walking monstrosities.  
>"Jiralhanae, the slave warriors, these blind sighted beings are by far the most brutal of the covenant, hence the title Brutes. They possess incredible strength and speed; they know how to put up a fight. Brutes find humanity to be capable, purely because we're just as stubborn as they are in combat. They are much like jackals having the intent to cannibalise whatever they can get their hands on, and they have a high pain threshold, meaning that they can withstand being shot a lot of times. We had to use a lot of HEAP rounds on them alone. Brutes are beings not for mercy, they find mercy as a weakness to be expunged from their ranks, but also destroying anything that dares to challenge their beliefs. The brutes have a very strong sense of religion regardless if that religion is false, they don't care, they'd follow it to their deaths. There have been a few brutes that do break away, but purely for self-interests."<p>

"Sounds like my kind of enemy." Wrex smirked.

"These brutes how do they function in the field?" Shepard asked.

"They vary much like the others, hierarchy structure; their chain of command however can also vary. Clans have been able to influence over what sort of order they attack in so they may change as we fight them. As for their command structure, the brutes go in this order, minor, warrior, major, ultra, hunter, vanguard just naming the infantry. There is also a specialised troop known as the Gladiator class, this class was never officialised, but they function within accomplishing individual goals, such as securing critical locations and dealing in sabotage and spec ops, they're granted full individual operations, but they are monitored depending on their leader and if there's a Champion amongst them. Then we have the stealth warfare unit's stalker minor, stalker major, stalker ultra, stalker hunter, stalker vanguard. The next is the veteran troopers who are granted specialised equipment jump pack minor, jump pack major, jump pack ultra, jump pack captain. The higher command structure is consistent of captains, brute captain, brute major captain, brute ultra-captain, and vanguard captain. Above the captains are the senior veterans, brute bodyguards, brute major bodyguards, brute captain bodyguards and champion bodyguards. Brute chieftains are the next above the bodyguards and captains, they are supposed to be clan leaders and pack commanders, they lead strike forces and command their own ships, they lead only to the extent of their force, but they bow down to their seniors. The highest in the command structure of the brutes are their champions, brute champions are both leaders and veterans, they command more than just strike forces, they command whole fleets and armadas, the highest of them are the Grand Champions being the seasoned leaders, and they form the Council of Faith, a collection of all grand champions. They are by far the hardest to kill bastards the UCAF had the unfortunate luck to fight." Acker finished.

The whole room was staring at the sheer number of officers and commanders of brutes; the sheer number was staggering, if the statistics of the UCAF were correct that'd mean that the brutes commanded roughly whole platoons worth of troops for every pack. This was very damn concerning; the numbers were going in favour of the covenant.

Shepard decided to break the stunned silence.  
>"For the champions why exactly are they so difficult to defeat?"<p>

"The champions possess non-standard equipment, they function much like gladiators, but they get the best of the gear, Vortex Hammers, Brute Destroyers, Brute Shredders, upgrades which grant them various advantages such as, Vortex Breaker, Inversion Trans-phase, and a number of various custom upgrades." Acker replied.

Shepard got her answer and it made her nervous, the brutes seemed to have a serious knack for firepower and weaponry. The others were busy running the sheer scale of the brutes through their heads, it was still daunting that the covenant had such force of warriors; it made most of the krogans seem like tame varren compared to the blood thirst that the brutes possessed.

The next on the list topped the highest of the covenant forces. Acker brought out the second last profile, the elites. The image of the brutes was replaced by a hunched alien with dark skin; it seemed to stand very tall. The 4 jawed alien had narrow eyes and also possessed various classes, its hierarchy seemed to be similar to the brutes.  
>"Sangheili, the greatest adversary of the human race and the most revered and feared enemy amongst the forces, the elites as they are commonly known as are the frontline and backbone of the covenant military, they possess incredible strength and speed. The UCAF had been fighting them since day 1 and we have learnt a lot from them. The elites are warriors of great martial honour and have been fighting us with determination, they have lost a number of battles, but we suffered heavy losses as well. The elites are the forefront of the covenant, at least they were."<p>

"What do you mean by were?" Tevos asked.

"There was a recent event that splintered the covenant, the elites sided with us in order to save themselves and our galaxy, the event splintered the covenant in Nova Stratus, but it hasn't taken full hold of all elite forces. Many still regard the covenant as a whole and refuse to splinter it, meanwhile others battle each other over technology and resources, it's become a disaster for the elites who have sided with us as they attempt to rally what forces that they can get. The elites we faced are still a faction of the remaining covenant, but for the record not many still believe in the covenant. If anything the only reason that the elites are still part of the loyalist factions is purely out of need to know more of what their remaining leadership is up to and also because they have no intention to befriend the human race." Acker explained.

"So what about the separatist elites, what do they do exactly?" Ashley asked.

"They rally remaining troops to their side and plan on getting as many of their fellow kin to defect with them to get back to their homeworld of Sanghelios, it's a noble cause, but it's a very difficult one, thousands of years the elites have been indoctrinated with the idea of godhood through the covenant finding ancient technologies and such, but in the end it all fell apart because of a serious oversight on their leaderships behalf." Acker replied.

"And what is that oversight?" Tevos asked.

"The human race." Acker smirked.

Acker brought the classes of the elites out.  
>"The elite's hierarchy is incredibly large, larger than even the brutes by a significant portion. The classes are, elite minor, elite major, elite captain, elite ultra, elite commander, elite vanguard, elite guardian, elite tempest. The next segment of their command structure goes elite ranger, elite hunter, elite ranger commander, elite spec ops ranger commander, elite stalker ranger. Elite tempest classes, elite tempest, elite tempest major, elite tempest hunter, tempest veteran, tempest guardian, tempest vanguard, elite tempest grand master. The elites also possess stealth warfare units such as, spec ops minor, spec ops veteran, spec ops major, spec ops officer, spec ops veteran commander. Then there are the unique veteran classes known as the zealots, they rank in this order, zealot minor, zealot major, zealot ultra, zealot officer, zealot spec ops, zealot tempest, zealot vanguard, zealot hunter, zealot ranger, zealot field commander, zealot marshal, zealot grand master. Then the commanders, elite field master, elite fleet master, elite ship master. The highest of the commanders was the Supreme Commander, the leader of armadas and crusades. The admiralty of the covenant goes in this order, veteran admiral, major admiral, supreme admiral and grand admiral and imperial admiral. Other classes of the elites that are rarely known about would be the elite bodyguards, elite councillors, elite Arbiter, elite Custodian, elite Kaidon, Oracle master, elite gatekeeper, elite weapons master, elite Aristocrat, elite Ossoona, Ascetics, and finally the Commando class elites."<p>

"Can you go through each one specifically?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, but that would take a whole day to go through each specific element of the entire hierarchy which would be exhausting to say the least, let's just leave it at the fact that the elites have had a very large command structure since the beginning, their political and military ideologies seem to work hand in hand for them and their social structure is based similarly on such design. You'll encounter each class of the elites if the war spreads here." Acker replied.

Tevos asked. "In your list, you said that the elites possess their own councillors, how does their council function?"

"Their council is much like their officers, but they do not function as military personnel at least not unless it's an emergency, they regulate all aspects of the elite forces within the covenant, at least they used to. The unanimous agreement of the elite council permits certain officers some freedoms while condemning and shaming others, the whole council runs in league with other leaders, but the elites possess about half of all the seats within the councils, until the schism." Acker explained.

Tevos thought the idea through of how large the sheer scale of the covenant must have been to have so many leaders, it seemed like it was similarly based like the councils own, but with more direct courses of action and decision that seemed to affect the whole body of races, it was pretty daunting thinking about the number of mistakes made between each council though, there must have been a lot of trouble trying to maintain it all.

The last of the species of the covenant went up. San 'Shyuum, the prophets, the one thing that the UCAF hated more than any other species, the prophets have been the centre point for deception and lies, the fact that they started the war with the intent to secure their own position throughout the known universe for godhood made it worse. The bulbous alien who sat upon his hover chair seemed frail in design; the members of Shepard's crew looked on intently.

"San 'Shyuum, the prophets, the deceitful bastards of the covenant, once revered as the great leaders, the covenant changed with the rise of the three recent prophets, Truth, Mercy, and Regret, they usurped power from their predecessors and accelerated their zealous faith through vicious control. Of course they weren't the only ones, in the Nova Stratus region; we face the other prophets known as Reverence, Sanctity and Amity. There is little to be known about the prophets aside from being religious and political ministers, they controlled the covenant through zealous belief and enforced with military succession, it had worked for generations, but they eventually hit a problem, when they came across the human race they chased their belief of their gods to humanity. And surprisingly enough, our ancestors were once part of or known to their gods as we had vast access to their god's technology and weaponry. Their leadership believing that the only way to keep their religion from falling apart was to attack the human race and exterminate it from revealing the truth of its origins, of course we didn't go quietly and we fought the covenant for the past 26 years now trying to desperately hold on to whatever is left of our homes." Acker explained.

The images of massive battles across space filled the screen, there seemed to be no end to the number of battles the UCAF had faced, but it was clear it looked like hell for those who had to have fought it. Shepard asked.  
>"If their leadership knew of the human race, why couldn't you have simply instigated this schism sooner?"<p>

"It wasn't easy, the indoctrination of their species had made them unapproachable, and thus the war continued at least until the more logical members of the covenant began to pick out the details from every campaign and also their experiences with the UCAF made them realise the sheer scale of their war. They knew that they'd either lose or suffer possibly decades of critical losses, so it was common sense to recall forces that marked those who did so as traitors and split the covenant even further. So it was just a matter of time for us the break the covenant apart." He replied.

The crew were looking at the sheer numbers of battles the UCAF seemed to fight, this was honestly frightening that there was even such a race of people that could turn such a war in their favour, the odds must have been horrendous. Of course the war hadn't ended; it was in a slow stage with many splintered factions heading off to various campaigns.

"The UCAF is still fighting this war, and you've seen it yourself, the covenant even if splintered poses a serious threat." Acker warned them.

"We can grasp your situation, colonel; this seems to be rather alarming." Tevos stated.

"Alarming, this is possibly the worst case scenario we could possibly face, and by the worst, I mean THE WORST THING TO HAPPEN." Valern emphasised.

"I don't think overdramatic statements is required Valern, if the UCAF is here then we have a chance, I'm sure that Colonel Acker has made his decision about aiding us." Maelon suggested.

Acker knew that the council was going to pull this one out of the hat.  
>"The UCAF is unique councillor, to your universe, let's just say that we're considering it, but if we do so, you must allow us to work with impunity or this would go nowhere fast." He warned.<p>

"We shall see then colonel; our decision must be unanimous with all of council space." Tevos replied.

Ashley threw a concerned look at the council. She then nonchalantly stated.  
>"Well you might want to make a decision and soon, the covenant doesn't look like they'll be waiting long before they want to strike."<p>

"I doubt that they will, if I was their commander, I'd be planning a precision skirmish into council territory and all surrounding space, they'll want to know exactly what they'll be up against and then being their hunt for their gods footsteps, if they do find anything of value they'll throw everything at it." Acker added.

"Then why are we still here? We need to get moving." Shepard announced.

"Agreed." Hackett consented.

"Shepard, if I'd suggest bringing the Normandy to the Tyrant, we can fit her in the hangar." Acker suggested.

"Wait why would we need to bring the Normandy aboard?" Shepard asked.

"The Tyrant has a slip-space drive remember? Our vessel can reach its destination within at least a day or two." Andrea replied.

"But the Citadel is over thousands of light years away, we'd take months to get there from here." Valern stated.

"I don't think you were briefed on UCAF technology yet councillor, we should discuss it in transit, but our ships can traverse over 1523 light years a day on average, we could go for an inversion transition which is much faster, but we need the coordinates to the Citadel in order to try such a jump." Acker responded.

The councillor was surely surprised, but he kept quiet, the others let Acker be. Meanwhile Shepard got on her com to signal the Normandy.  
>"This is Shepard, Joker can you bring the Normandy to the Starboard section of the Tyrant?"<p>

"Sure thing commander, I'll be there, I just finished loading all the gear back onto the ship, and I'll be there in about 2 minutes." He said getting the Normandy started up.

As for Acker, he called over coms to the bridge.  
>"Sienna, did you hear that?"<p>

The AI materialised and replied.  
>"Acknowledged sir, boarding latches are in position to receive the Normandy."<p>

Sienna appearing startled the councillors who took a step back in surprise, Tali of course was still simmering over the debacle earlier. The turian councillor stammered.  
>"A-an AI? Here?"<p>

"Yes, and I was going to mention sooner that the UCAF possess AI, but seeing as Sienna decided to come down here herself, I guess introductions would be needed for this eventful meeting." Acker stated sarcastically, the last thing he needed was to put Sienna out for the council in the midst of the already uncertain situation.

"Why do you possess an AI? They aren't legal within council space! You must…" Valern was interrupted by Tevos.

"What Valern meant to say was that we shall discuss this once we are within transit, at the moment we'd like to refresh." She blocked the turian.

"Sienna direct the council and their guards to the recreation room, I need to oversee the departure of admiral Hackett." He told the AI.

Sienna nodded and vanished activating a chain of holographic projector lights outside the conference room to direct the councillors. Meanwhile Shepard's crew filed out after Acker and Hackett, Hackett was definitely leaving the ship, and he was needed back at the flagship, at least what was left of the flagship.

"Colonel you have no idea how much people would have paid to see the look on the councillors faces at the sight of your AI, but I do want to warn you, the council have a way with words. Be careful about what they tell you and what you hear, it may differ vastly, and don't cross Valern, he can be a stubborn fool at times, but he knows politics." Hackett stated as they hurried down to the hangar.

As they entered the hangar, the Normandy slid in through the large doors to the aft of the ship, the large bay door of no.10 allowed for the Normandy to enter easily into the holding bay. The ship looked like it would need extensive repairs, but at least she was still in one piece. Hackett got to the shuttle, Anderson spoke with him before heading back.  
>"Good luck to your colonel, I do hope those stubborn fools don't keep you from fighting the good fight, I'll see you around." Hackett saluted as the shuttle took off.<p>

Anderson stepped over to Shepard.  
>"Shepard I'll be joining you for the trip back, Hackett needs me back on the Citadel to relay anything of importance from command to him, he wants me to represent the HSA for the time being until this issue with the UCAF and the covenant can be resolved. Hopefully before any further attacks."<p>

"From the council's point of view sir? I think they're already planning to red tape Acker and the ship for a month." Ashley joked seriously.

"Well then I should probably get back to speaking with them, as for you, Captain Andrea shall not be here, she's required on the bridge to oversee our jump points. I need to speak with the council alone for a bit, and Sienna will also be around, if you require assistance or repairs ask her, and also if you need any questions ask Sienna. And please do not disturb any personnel working on their equipment." He informed them before he departed back into the elevator.

Shepard and the others kept a mental note about the colonel's position, now as the senior most officer of the UCAF now present. As they looked around, they noted that the Normandy did require an overhaul, but with Sienna, being an AI made this a rather precarious situation, especially with Tali.

Sienna appeared not long after as crewmen began their rounds, they rushed about with their tools and got to work on their vehicles, there were a few repair drones floating about. Shepard's crew took their seat on the catwalk level that connected to the Normandy; there an airlock had been secured to the ship's side.

Anderson was busy thinking to himself while Shepard went over to the Normandy; she entered through the nearly broken airlock and found Joker at helm busy humming to himself.  
>"Oh hey commander, I've got great news, I got the full report on the damages from Presley and I think I can safely say that we've got more holes in the hull than Swiss cheese, also the total cost of repairs is going to piss off command when we have to tow the Normandy back into port."<p>

Shepard looked at the bills alright, there was plenty to indicate the taxpayers back on Earth weren't going to be too pleased to get this one, the damages come primarily from the stealth vents within the ship, many were fried or sliced open, there was also the fact that two engines needed a full overhaul and a lot of replacement parts were going to be needed for the lasers on the hull of the ship.

Shepard sighed.  
>"Joker, you wouldn't mind if our gracious guests decided to repair the ship for free do you?" She asked.<p>

"They can?" He said in surprise.

"Yeah, but there's one thing you might need to keep an eye out for." She told him.

"What?" Joker asked.

"Do you know the person who guided you in?" She asked.

"Right…" He waited.

"Well she's an AI." She said aptly.

"An AI, seriously commander? An AI… 'huh' you're serious about this aren't you?" He asked.

She nodded.  
>"Yes I am."<p>

"Okay when exactly was it our policy to allow AI to gain access to alliance technology?" He asked sarcastically.

"Joker, Anderson's on the bench with this one, but he say's as long as it's not coming out of the alliances budget, command will probably let this one slide." Shepard replied.

Joker contemplated the costs and decided to forgo the bureaucratic wait list that the command's going to pull on them if they got back to port.  
>"Okay, so where's this magical AI?"<p>

Shepard got back outside to where the others were patiently waiting.  
>"Well Joker's agreed to let Sienna repair the ship, he's a bit peckish about it, but he's happier to let this one for free."<p>

"Are you serious Shepard? If Sienna wasn't bad enough, you're letting her access the Normandy?" Tali said in disdain.

"Tali we've gone over this before, we don't have much of a choice, we either let this one go on HSA credit which command won't like, especially for the Tantalus drive or we let the UCAF just grant us an easy repair for this time. As much as I'd like to keep my faith in handwork engineers, we'd be stuck in port for over 2 months to get those parts to fix the Normandy." Shepard told her.

Tali knew that the mission hunting for Saren and stopping the geth took priority.  
>"Fine, but I'm keeping an eye on the Tantalus drive until she's finished."<p>

Everyone sighed, they could get back on track soon, and this option was better than trying to get it done back at port, Shepard wasn't lying, with the situation the fleet was going to come first ahead of the Normandy. Shepard headed over to the entrance to the bridge airlock and hit a console, it brought up the call option.  
>"Sienna I'd like you to provide some help."<p>

Sienna appeared within a flash and she smiled.  
>"What can I assist you with commander?"<p>

"I'd like you to begin a full repair of the Normandy, I'll grant you access to the schematics and computers, but please don't change too much of the layout Joker was just getting used to the ship." Shepard ordered.

"Very well, however it would probably be for the best to maintain a skeleton crew on the ship, I shall need to take large sections apart in order to complete a full repair. Your pilot may come and go, but I'll need to operate carefully." She informed to commander.

"Very well, tell Joker and the others to meet outside, I'm sure we can rest on the side till we get to the Citadel." Shepard added thoughtfully.

"No need, Colonel Acker has provided temporary accommodation on this level, there's an elevator about 30 meters to the aft section of the walkway from this location it's on the walkway level, just hit the barracks number and you shall be at the temporary accommodation, or I can indicate to you and your crew as to where to go." Sienna replied.

"That'll be easier, thanks." Shepard said before signing off.

"No problem, have a nice day commander, I shall be on com line 5 whenever your require me." She said before activating the repair protocols.

"All level 3 engineers please report to sector 4 bay 10, constructor units through E-10 to G-5 have been activated, repairs on allied vessel is underway, please can all non-essential personnel vacate the vessel at once." Sienna informed over the coms.

Shepard stepped back to her team; they were busy observing the construction arms fold from above and begin knitting sections of the hull with what looked like wires. The airlock opened for the crew of the Normandy and they filed out carefully, the chief engineer and Presley remained aboard for the duration, Joker wasn't too happy to be on his feet again, but it was better than him getting pulled out of his chair by the constructors.

Chakwas had a few patients, primarily some injuries from the battle, there wasn't anything serious so they took a moment to sit on the bench which lined the wall to the bridging airlock. Shepard felt that this was going to be a very interesting wait.

XXXXX

I know that I should probably be doing something else, but I have been occupied with dealing with some bills for my internet, that said. If anyone knows about the NBN, the national broadband network in Australia, please pass the message on that in Australia, the NBN has officially come into active stage one and has limited internet use in Australia, I've had rolling blackouts of my network since last year and it keeps getting worse. People will probably not know that this has happened, but for the love of all things moral and good spread the word and help stop the annihilation of the Australia's internet! Also because I can't write anymore fics if they completely ban the site, they have a serious blacklist that the government has planned for all things regarding sexual content, which means that is listed as such, and yes it does list as a mature site. Also the sheer scale of all my works also border around my Deviantart account about anti-government writings which would probably land me in jail, or $10,000 fines for the amount of time I don't remove it.


	8. Event 8

Event 8- Tempest's Horizon

XXXXX

"It is an undeniable and I say _fundamental_ quality of man that when faced with extinction… that every alternative is preferable." Director Leonard Church- Section 3 ONI- His comment on the war against the covenant and the launch of Spartan Beta.

(Red vs. Blue season 6: Reconstruction, originally from Roosterteeth…)

XXXXX

UCAF Records: 2550/25/12

The conclusive battle between the UCAF and the covenant for control of the Forerunner super weapon had left the covenant in ruins, their forces scattered through known space, either splintering or fighting without cause. The destruction of the covenant had left the UCAF with renewed strength to push them further out of human space, and begin reclaiming lost territory.

But it had not come without a cost, 11 Spartan Alphas including the Supreme Commander of the UCAF Vindicators 1st legion had been lost, many lives had been sacrificed for the human race, but it seemed that the war was starting to draw to an eventual conclusion. The covenant recalled all major forces back to their planetoid worlds where they plan on holding their position till the schism within the ranks could be resolved. But fighting had already splintered the truce between the brutes and the many elites.

Remaining hierarchs flee to the last two prophets, Amity who mysteriously took to a fleet away and vanished, and the floundering leader Sanctity who had little knowledge of actual warfare, his position was prised upon political and social standing not on military. This left the prophet in a highly unstable control point to fight the UCAF and forced him to withdraw until the situation could be resolved.

Acker sat on a bench on the observation deck of the UCAF Cruiser 'Point Breaker', all the reports from the frontline filed on his data-pad, he was happy to see that the war was finally going to end, but it left him such a sick feeling. He had seen so many things happen through this war, and he couldn't forget them. All those who he had served with and known either dead or gone hundreds of light years away, he had little knowledge of what had happened to friends who he had known as a child or those who he had trained with. There was a very hollow feeling left to what was once duty, he had almost nothing left to go back for.

But he had to sympathise for those who he commanded, for they too had lost everything, there was almost nothing left for half the marines in his company or the remaining young bloods who were recruited from the colonies as orphans. The hope of a generation was left in bitter tatters, so much had been lost and there was much to find.

For Acker it was getting his men out alive, all that was left of his family he considered to be his soldiers, they stuck with him from beginning to end, he wasn't sure if any would want to leave, but their services would be over as soon as the war ended. Acker sighed. 'The end of an era…' He thought to himself as he got up from the chair.

Spartan legions were being created along with new classes of marines, and soon he and the members of the 81st recon would be phased out and replaced by another company of scouts and so forth the circle was complete. His retirement from service was effective as soon as his last few missions were completed. He laughed at the thought; it had been so long he had forgotten how many missions he had completed, more than 270 missions and 34 campaigns, it left him feeling tired.

'Had it really been 15 years?' He asked himself.

He stared out to the UCAF shipyards below and thought to the day he first saw 'her', Aegis, the young cybernetic woman, he met her when she was first joining the Faith division at the youth academy on Nova Proxy. They had met on the deck of a cruiser much like the 'Point Breaker', but he couldn't recall how long it had been since they had last spoken.

Aegis was a born cyborg, being the daughter of cybernetic parents; she had found a place joining the UCAF military when offered the position because of the desperate need for specialists. He was just some grunt who had managed to get lucky from what his friends had told him, cyborgs rarely met anyone in the young bloods, he was exception.

He laughed at the thought of being the only guy in his unit to have a girlfriend when he was in training. But it didn't help that he hadn't seen her in a long time, the last report that he got was that she was in the final battle for the Forerunner super-weapon, but there hadn't been a formal report that had been given on all members of the battle. Only UCAF records and covenant losses, nothing on Special Forces except the Spartans, but they were commonly known.

For Aegis, she had been in the battle but there was nothing confirming if she had survived the battle. He could only assume that she did; besides she never went down in the training sim, so there was a high chance that she would be out there somewhere still fighting the good fight. He just hoped that they'd meet again before the war ended.

He packed his gear up and headed down to the lifts, he had a flight to catch to the next fleet.

XXXXX

Present Time: 2551/3/25

Location: In transit to Citadel- Serpent Nebula

Acker exited the lifts and opened the door to the recreation room; the councillors were having a break in the furthest end of the rec-room. They were having a small discussion between themselves and were frivolous on discussing the situation of the UCAF and the future of the council, Acker could hear them through his augmented ears, the auditory enhancers picked out their words from the humming of the ship and the quiet rustle of machinery busy at work.

He walked over to them and they greeted him.  
>"Colonel, please sit, there's much to discuss." Tevos gestured politely.<p>

He did as such and sat across from the councillors.  
>"Yes there's a lot to discuss, and on the first topic I think we should bring to bear would be the reason for the UCAF being here." He began.<p>

"Yes your Alliance, we have thought the process through and we'd like to offer you our support on the matter…" Valern thoughtfully added.

"But…" He added.

Acker immediately knew where this was going. "There's the matter of your AI and the unbalanced force of the Covenant, we were hoping to come to a compromise." Valern suggested.

"Compromise?" He repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"We as councillors, have significant pull within our governments including corporate, private and public trades. If you were willing to aid us with certain technological barriers and difficulties, we'd appreciate the assistance, as you said before, we do lack in certain areas of military strength, if this war against the covenant is to be concluded. Surely there must be a level of technology that can be provided?" Valern asked.

'And now the politics kick in.' Acker thought to himself.  
>"Councillor, the UCAF have strict policy on military technology and hardware, we haven't bothered to share any knowledge about UCAF weaponry with you because the UCAF have yet to send an official with us to discuss this matter, and the UCAF Prime Senate had not authorised me any power to do so. If I gave you anything without any official permitting me to do so, I'd be court-martialled." He told them promptly.<p>

The councillors looked at him with surprise; the man who was dimensions from his own government refuses to hand anything over to them. Either there was some humour that they had yet to discover in his statement or this was an uncompromising individual. He didn't break eye contact and he remained sharing glances with them.

"Colonel Acker, you are over a dimension away from your alliance, who have sent you to aid us, but you refuse to aid us due to protocol?" Valern summarised.

"Yes and that protocol cannot be violated by me or any crewmen, not unless we're told otherwise by the UCAF we will not. There's a protocol for aiding lower tier species, but that would depend on their situation, as for you, you're advanced enough to sustain yourselves. And if the situation gets worse then I might consider granting you access to certain levels of UCAF weaponry. But that's depending on how bad the covenant launches their attacks." He told them clearly and definitively.

The council felt rather stumped, this was the first time they had come across a person who refused them or wouldn't compromise, not even for a moment. As for the situation, that was still to be determined, they had suffered one battle, not hundreds and not thousands, and they had yet to be attacked. If they needed Acker's support, they had it, he'd support them, but not technologically or scientifically and not with intelligence.

All that he was here to do was contain the covenant with a few ships and search for what the covenant were after, anything else was secondary. Acker knew it felt like they were trying to cut themselves from the HSA and the Council, but there was a policy for a reason, they had to earn his trust and they had to earn the trust of the UCAF.

He sat back and asked.  
>"Is there anything else?"<p>

Valern knew that Acker wasn't going to compromise on actual technological knowledge, but there was always the alternative.  
>"Colonel, if I may, are you permitted to allow us a brief tour of your ship and any base knowledge of the UCAF?" He asked.<p>

"Well yes, that's within the UCAFs grant to me, any tours and service histories that are non-classified are permitted. However there's little to see." He informed them.

"That'd be fine; we'd just like to understand the level of your alliance." Valern tried.

Acker knew he was trying to get an observation of the UCAF, which he was entitled to as a leader/politician of a foreign species, and seeing as they held a neutral status with the UCAF there was nothing stopping him from doing so. Acker replied.  
>"Granted, however Sienna shall be giving the tour while I am required back on the bridge, I need to go over technical status of the ship to be prepared for future engagements with the covenant. For now have a good day." He nodded before he left.<p>

The council got back to its discussion about the UCAF and Acker prepared a full report, he only used the excuse for a full status report on the ship to get out of talking with the council and getting some sleep. He needed it at the moment, seeing as he hadn't slept in over 3 days. As for knowledge of the UCAF, he hoped that the amount that Sienna was going to dump on them with non-classified data wouldn't overload their brains.

XXXXX

Location: Unknown

The reports from Epping were flooding in alright, there was reports from the colonists over how the situation had unfolded with the activation of the portal, it was supposed to help expand the influence of the council publically and draw support for the alliance, but it ended in disaster with this war erupting on their side of the portal and the havoc created driving the council races into preparation with an unknown threat.

The human forces that were ordered to Epping reported heavy losses, but they took the system back, but the council didn't even bother to register a thanks to those of the HSA who just spent their lives to get them out of that crisis. But all in all, there was something good which had come from this, the human forces losses had instilled further strength within the HSA command to act.

There was plenty of talk to begin mass production of more cruisers and carriers, but the limit on dreadnoughts seemed to be a problem that they couldn't overcome without drawing attention. The HSA leadership was busy discussing a means to further bolster their presence around their colonies; of course there was the danger of attracting attention since the Batarian hegemony had still a rather fixed presence on their border.

But there was something of great interest, the reports from the portal state that there was a large group of vessels, and the aid of an unknown faction of soldiers, they called themselves the UCAF. And they had made quite an impression in council space, their approach to dealing with the hostile alien forces was quick and precise, the hostiles left but the battle was won thanks to their aid.

This UCAF was what made Jack smile; there was something amiable left in being human, not like those fools who bowed to the whims of the council, letting them tear the human race apart from its once strong foundation, allowing rogues to do as they pleased. It was a joke, a sick joke that man had once been considered the top of the food chain and now had been reduced to the middleman to be pushed around, to beg for the scarps the council gave it.

Jack had fought the turians during the war and he had seen the decline in the unity of the human race, racial tensions and interstellar politics grip the HSA in bureaucratic bullshit. Jack wanted to have humanity stand tall as it once had before, being capable of doing anything, overcoming obstacles like it had in the past.

Well his vision of this wasn't too far away, but it wasn't getting any further, his control within humanity was still limited, and his influence within the HSA command was still only political. He had required the aid of usually a proxy, agents or cells, for him it was taking a very long time to get to the level required to grant humanity its independence.

Jack, no, The Illusive Man, reviewed the recordings and reports from Epping, this UCAF was going to be his key into granting humanity its independence if he had to force them to or not.

XXXXX

Back on the Tyrant, Shepard watched as the Normandy was put together again, she was amazed at how Sienna seemed to know exactly what she was doing. The schematics of the Normandy that was provided seemed to be utilised in making the Normandy more effective. Sienna was altering some details, such as the heat sinks and locations of the weaponry on the Normandy; also she had disposed of the tail fins, and added streamlined thrusters to augment the speed of the Normandy.

The process of rebuilding the Normandy was still early, but the ship was already undergoing large scale altercations. Shepard was surely impressed, but the other members of the crew had other thoughts. Primarily Tali annoyed at how the ship's engines were being rebuilt.  
>"This is ridiculous; the ventral thrusts would tear the ship in two!" Tali harassed the AI.<p>

"That's why there are aft thrusters and additional correctional prow thrusters, and also the engines are getting upgrades to increase the manoeuvrability of the ship in combat, I'm sure that you didn't possess such capabilities in battle before, and from combat records it seems that you'd need them considering what you'll be going up against." Sienna replied.

"But that's not the point; you're altering a perfectly good ship!" She replied angrily.

"Perfectly good? Your armour plating barely handled being pelted by light enemy fighters and suffered damage to two of your engines from energy fire, if anything a full overhaul and some minor adjustments never hurt for a ship like this, considering that it wouldn't actually register as a ship in the UCAF much less a private yacht." Sienna retorted.

"Joker, tell her that you don't want her to change the design of the cockpit." Tali threw at the pilot.

Joker looked at the two and sat back in a leather chair covered in plastic.  
>"Hey keep me out of this, as long as I get a leather chair in the cockpit with a holo-field multi-variant interface I'm happy. And also if you don't cut the handling, I really prefer getting a feel of the ship, and then give an opinion."<p>

Sienna nodded and continued, Tali fumed, she was just ditched by Joker. She stormed off to Shepard.  
>"Shepard, why haven't you done anything? Surely the ship getting a full overhaul is one thing, but why are you letting her change the Normandy?"<p>

"I'm staying with my choice to let her, the ship required some patches, but with the covenant and Sienna offering the make some adjustments, I'm fine as long as we live longer." Shepard replied.

"So is this it? We just let the AI from this unknown human race do as she pleases because she offered it? What happened to be being efficient? Self-sufficient?" She hissed.

"Tali, look here, I've said it before, we can't go into dock with the HSA with an entire fleet in ruins and us suffering significant damage, and I'm sure we'd have needed armour upgrades with the ship, the UCAF was offering, and I thought it would save us the trouble of having to requisition the HSA for fixing up the ship. And you know the time constraints." She reasoned.

Tali thought it through and then sighed.  
>"Dammit, I hate it when you make sense… I'll be elsewhere." She replied heading off to the elevator.<p>

Shepard could only hope that she'd go off to cool off, the last thing she needed was Tali getting too hot under the suit and throwing a tantrum with the UCAFs AI, it'd be an interesting catfight, but one that no one would want to get involved with. As for the various members of Shepard's crew, Wrex was busy looking around for a snack and a fight with the UCAF; she had to pull him from picking a fight with a large armoured helldiver.

Kaiden was going over some calibrations on the ship, and Garrus was on the firing range of the ship busy watching the UCAF crack some shots at targets, he was going to get some target practice in before they arrived at the Citadel, but he was waiting for Shepard and the others to come along to train as well.

Ashley was busy going over the armoury and all of the gear that had been on the Normandy which was now on the bay deck; she was going through them to make sure they were ready for the next engagement with the covenant. Shepard decided to go and get Ash and Kaiden, Tali if she cooled off soon.

She went to the lower bay and asked the gunnery sergeant.  
>"Hey Ash, Garrus's got a target range we can use, he says it's better than waiting around all day."<p>

Ashley thought about it and cracked her neck.  
>"Fine, my jaw feels like it's going to fall off anyway."<p>

Shepard hurried up to the walkway again and went over to Kaiden busy going over the ships performance and calibrating it for Sienna.  
>"Kaiden, come along, we've got Garrus down in the hold, he says he's found us a good challenge." Shepard told the Lt.<p>

Kaiden replied.  
>"Fine, just let me finish up here and I'll meet you at the firing range commander."<p>

Shepard nodded and went along to the lifts, she and Ash headed down to the next level. Along the way they planned to get Tali and Wrex, if either weren't busy doing anything. Once they reached the next level, they exited to the barracks of the lower level, the barracks of the ship seemed massive, and of course housing thousands of personnel must have required some serious space.

Shepard and Ashley navigated their way to the observation room, they'd be sure to stumble across Tali there or somewhere near engineering. And if not then they'd just ask Sienna as to the whereabouts of their quarian crewmate. As they walked through the dull grey hallway, it seemed that the whole ship seemed rather repressed, boring, there wasn't much to look at, boxes and squares. It was all angles, rather than curves, the whole ship was enclosed and claustrophobic at times, unlike the Normandy which was a rather small ship, it still had plenty of space, well only housing 22 personnel.

Upon entering the observation section of the ship, they found that Tali, she was indeed there and with a number of other members of the ship. Tali seemed to be getting chatted up, or so it would have seemed.  
>"You know, for being an alien species, you don't seem to be like the ones we've faced, they're damn ugly, not to mention vicious." One rather young looking soldier said to her.<p>

"On the other hand, it's probably better that way, I'd hate to fight a beauty with a form like hers." A green haired teen added.

"Great, teenagers and horny what a winning combination…" Tali sighed.

"Hey, we aren't all horny jackasses, well except for Clarke, but he's got his reasons." A red haired marine in light armour replied.

"So what's all this about?" Shepard interrupted.

"I was hoping to cool off, but it seems that I had a rather enlightening period of speaking to these boys." Tali informed the commander.

"No offence lady, but enlightening is something we'd use for actual educational experiences, as for us, we're more open to opinions." A grey skinned boy told her.

"Yeah, what's not to know? We're young and we're blood thirsty." The green haired teen shrugged.

A chorus of 'Oorah' rang from the room.  
>"Well that's pleasant and all, but I think the commander needs me now."<p>

"See yah!" They all said as she pulled the arm of the commander and sergeant along.

As soon as they got outside Tali thanked them.  
>"Keelah that you got here, I honestly would hate to have been in their presence any longer, damn kids, they've got some real open minds about war alright."<p>

"What was all that about?" Ash asked.

"I don't know, they got in there with their games and their data-novels and such and such, and then began to annoy me, I wanted to kick the one with green hair in between the legs, and he does not shut up about innuendoes." She rubbed her helmet like her head.

"I don't know they didn't seem that overly annoying to me, they seem like average teenagers." Ashley stated.

"Yeah, well once they begin chanting; JOHN MADDEN for about a whole minute, then you'll know why I needed to get out." Tali said encouragingly.

They headed off to the firing range, Tali wouldn't need to cool off she needed to burn off some rather obligatory amount of stress. The three of them soon reached the sparring section, there were a number of fights going down, it wasn't too far from the firing range now, but they had yet to see where Wrex was, they hoped he'd have been here.

They passed through the area, and got into the firing range, Kaiden was amazingly there ahead of them.  
>"When did you get here?" Shepard asked.<p>

"I took the lift; the lifts go horizontally and not just vertically." He informed them.

Shepard face-palmed the day that she knew that there was a lift that could take you anywhere was the day the whole flipping universe went upside and inside out, it would have saved her the amount of time to walk from one end of the ship to this side. But too late for regrets, Garrus was busy prepping the rifles and various armaments to the side.

"Shepard, you finally got here. I was wondering if you and the others got lost in the ship, but enough about you, I've got us some ranges thanks to those fellows there." He pointed out the 5 observers with scopes and score counters.

"They asked if we'd like to compare weapons skills with them. I thought about it first, and agreed; I'd thought a bit of friendly competition would be good for the crew." He said as he got his own sniper.

"Friendly competition with who?" Ashley asked.

Garrus pointed to the other marksmen on the firing range. There were half a dozen armoured marines, and what looked like an antlered marine in full armour, the sight of the soldier made Shepard wonder why he even had the antlers for. The soldier in question fired his weapon and sent a small shockwave that could be felt in the firing range, everyone else got back to firing and breaking for the armoured marine to fire his very large sniper.

"Who's the guy with the gun?" Ashley asked cautiously.

"Don't know, they call him a mantis class Helldiver, he's got some serious firepower. It's supposed to be a 50cal sniper augmented with a mass driver, the sheer kinetic field of that gun is still powerful enough to shake everything in the room." Garrus replied.

"Geez, talking about overkill aren't we?" Tali commented.

"That's exactly what I said." Kaiden added.

"Okay, so why are we going up against these guys?" Shepard asked.

"Just out of curiosity, and besides, I'm sure we can match a few of them." Garrus encouraged.

"Why only a few?" Ashley asked.

"Because they hold the middle record, except that guy in the armour, he's got the 5th best marksmen record." Garrus said as he calibrated his sniper.

Shepard whistled, if the guy holding the largest sniper on the ship was the 1st best marksman she'd hate to go up against the best on the ship. She picked up her sniper and then got to her position, the others followed suite. The channel on the ship opened up and they heard the announcer.  
>"Challengers take your positions, Normandy crew versus UCAF marines, all rounds shall cycle between weapons, measurement on all accuracy, speed and range of all given weapons shall begin in 10 seconds."<p>

Shepard got her pistol out as did the others; this was going to be a rather interesting challenge. The first targets went up and the lights counted down. "Three, two, one, begin…" The PA announced.

All of them opened up, Shepard whipped her pistol up and began firing as fast as she could without losing sight of her target, she kept the spread of the hits within the radius of the body, and she counted 5 headshots and missed 3 hits. Tali and Kaiden were about equal on their weapons skill; Ashley matched the Commander easily and kept her weapon spread just like the commander's.

Garrus ripped through his targets for the most part; he seemed to have the best pistol out there. And for the UCAF, their pistols seemed to hit exactly on point even at maximum distance; their pistols seemed ceaseless hitting the targets. And then the announcer brought the next challenge.  
>"Moving targets begin."<p>

The team opened up on the moving holograms, their shots hitting their targets in various fashions, Shepard had probably the most decent strikes, as for Ashley she had some trouble waiting for her shots. Garrus nailed this as well, having the patience to keep going. As for Tali she also suffered somewhat sluggish shooting on long ranged targets.

"Multiple target projection challenge begins… now." The PA announced.

The team changed their angles again, this time to compensate for the various targets appearing, the largest number of strikes was the winner, and also it seemed the observers were taking points out for bad shooting. Garrus got a lot of his hits, as did Shepard, Ashley preformed the next best and Tali and Kaiden tied once again.

"Challenge complete: Scores are:"

Shepard: 84%

Ashley: 79%

Garrus: 88%

Tali: 75%

Kaiden: 77%

UCAF:

Eric-T82920: 83%

Vinh- K94773: 89%

Thompson R34442: 80%

Shawn E877623: 85%

Helldiver Unit: Vedra Hunt: 98%

The team looked over to the helldiver and saw him holding his own pistol; they were stunned to see how well he had done. The pistol he had was a large one much like the other marines, but it had a curved blade and a wood like grip, it was easily a custom weapon, and it just looked incredibly cool, at least in his hands.

"I've got a feeling we're going to need a lot better guns." Garrus commented.

The firing match between them quickly changed, the next on the list of actions was the use of Battle Rifles, or in this case good assault rifles, and then came the shotgun test, and then finally the sniper round, it seemed that the Helldiver just kept winning, his accuracy and handling of all weapons seemed near perfect, not quite there perfect, but still better than almost everyone.

Garrus honestly put up a fight from beginning to end, but he had to give.  
>"Damn he's good." He said grasping his aching arm.<p>

The team headed down to the other end to congratulate the UCAF marines, Tali had her mind off of the AI problem and was now thinking about how she should modify her shotgun, the UCAFs shotguns made her feel 'weak', the large AA-88s seemed to leave a lot to the imagination about how UCAF guns could handle such recoil.

Garrus went over to the Helldiver who was still going with practice, the other marines stayed clear from him; they went and thanked the team for the fun game. Up above the observers had increased, and were now dispersing, they enjoyed the short match, but they had other things to be doing and something else to be watching.

Garrus greeted the helldiver.  
>"Nice sniper you've got there, I must admit, you've damn mooned about half of the things I never thought could be hit with a gun like that."<p>

The helldiver fired before saying quietly.  
>"Thanks."<p>

"Mind if I try?" Garrus asked.

The helldiver looked at him through the cold silver visor and then hefted the massive gun into the hands of the turian, the weapon in Garrus's hand pulled him forward.  
>"Woah I never thought it was this heavy." He strained to get the gun over to the firing position.<p>

Shepard and the others helped Garrus into position; it seemed the gun weighed about 30 kilos alone, but the ammo was even heavier, loading a single round, Garrus took the safest position to fire and then aimed.  
>"Okay got it in sights now…"<p>

As soon as he pulled the trigger the gun kicked back hard, the room shook as normal, but Garrus wasn't standing anymore, he was knocked back hard onto his back.  
>"Ugh, that hurt a lot."<p>

He cracked his back before handing the gun back to the helldiver.  
>"You should be careful; the sniper's got 75cal rounds."<p>

"Duly noted." Garrus commented as he cracked his arms.

"Wow, that's got to be the most overpowered weapon on this side of the galaxy, and I mean overpowered." Ashley joked.

Shepard helped Garrus back to the corridor, and that was when they encountered a rather interesting scene. Marines rushed from the barracks and into the sparring arena. There were hundreds if not thousands.  
>"Hey what's going on?" Shepard asked one marine.<p>

"There's a big red guy with a blue chick taking on a helldiver in the sparring arena."

Shepard knew that this was going to happen sooner or later, she gestured the still sore Garrus into the crowded room. There they heard catcalls and cheers as the room rocked back and forward, it seemed someone was having a really good time.  
>"Come at me!" A familiar voice shouted.<p>

There was a roar of energy before a collision. Shepard got into the rear seats where the battle was taking place, there was Wrex alright and Liara, of all the people why Liara was in the midst of the fight was beyond anyone. A single helldiver in only his combat armour was fighting the duo. He grappled the krogan and landed an elbow in the side of Wrex's face before dropping him.

Liara tossed a lift and tried to knock the helldiver away from the krogan, it worked for a moment, but the helldiver shrugged the blast off and met Liara head to head. The marine blocked a biotic charged punch and countered and dropped the asari on her back, he then turned back to Wrex who got back on his feet and launched himself into the marine, they both fell to the ground, but Wrex was in anything but a good condition to fight the helldiver.

The marine grappled for a moment before reversing the position and pinning Wrex into the floor, he then began the beat the krogan into the floor. By the time he rolled off Wrex, Liara had recovered and began to attack once more, she tossed a blast of push and then lift and the pulled the marine. As he got closer Liara planned to hit him in mid-flight, but her attack failed as the marine grabbed her hand and twisted behind her as the biotic effects faded. He then flipped Liara out of the ring.

"Ring out!" The announcer yelled. "Tobias M45552 is the winner, going by 5-0."

The battle ended and everyone either cheered and sighed in disappointment, there were a few more that had put bets ahead and were now collecting. The marine was cheered off the stage into the locker rooms, meanwhile Liara and Wrex got out of the ring, and they seemed to be rather beat from their sparring match with the helldiver.  
>"Damn boys got strength." Wrex muttered as he clicked his shoulders back in place.<p>

"I'll admit I'd never thought that someone like him could have so much speed, I couldn't pin him properly." Liara admitted her armour had a dozen or so dents in it.

Shepard asked.  
>"Why did you two challenge the helldiver in a fight for?"<p>

"We didn't know, I honestly thought he was bluffing, at least until he threw Wrex at me during the first match." Liara replied.

"I had the little bastard and then he reversed gripped me and got a lucky blow." Wrex defended.

"I don't think that was a lucky blow considering he got you more than once in that reverse lock." Liara commented.

"Okay, so now that's been answered. Could you two hit the showers and get dressed? Dinner's in about an hour so I'd like for everyone to be there for dinner. I'm sure that there's a lot to talk about at the table." Shepard told them.

"Fine…" Wrex said.

"I'll meet you there commander." Liara replied.

The two headed off, Shepard felt that this was going to be a very long 3 day trip, se motioned to Tali and the others to follow up.  
>"Well at least we know that there's something entertaining to watch." Garrus joked.<p>

"Yeah, well don't tempt me on sending you to fight that helldiver for entertainment." Shepard threatened mockingly.

"Just a thought." Garrus replied.

"Wow I never thought anyone could throw krogans around, but that marine, he's got be strong, I wonder how they possess such strength?" Tali asked out aloud.

"Probably from all the fighting they've done, you've heard the colonel, they've been at war for about 26 years, and heck if anyone wasn't beast like those guys after 26 years of war then I don't know what will." Ashley stated with minor hysteria.

The members of Shepard crew were already heading over to the mess hall, along with the thousands of members of the Tyrant, it was a sure sight, and the mess hall had to have been about 4 times the size of the entire Normandy. The number of people packing it from beginning to end was amazing, not to mention the fact that there was another level to add to this one.

Shepard's crew took one portion of the whole room, all the way in a corner. The members of the crew couldn't eat on the Normandy because of the repairs so it seemed appropriate to share the mess hall here for the next few days, as long as they didn't start fights. Shepard could see all human occupants in the mess hall, some stared at Shepard's crew others ignored them.

The other members of the UCAF crew consisted of cybernetic humans, and altered humans with various augmentations, Shepard could have sworn she saw a young woman who only had robotic limbs. The various other members of the crew amalgamated well, they didn't seem to be alienated or ignored, exception being the helldivers of the UCAF.

Shepard got to the corner of the room with her crew, they were all busy thinking about what to get. Joker was sitting about asking.  
>"Do you think they have an honest to god beef burger and chips? Man those are rare." He commented as he thought about food.<p>

"Why don't you go see for yourself?" Shepard said as she sat down across from Joker.

"Well I have brittle bones and a low tolerance for crowds, trust me it doesn't end well. Besides, didn't you know we've got catering at the tables?" Joker motioned to a floating drone.

Tali almost jumped into Garrus from seeing the drone floating about, the machine looked around and resumed taking orders, and it was shortly joined by 2 others.  
>"Is there anything you'd like?" The machine droned.<p>

Joker finally got his chance to order.  
>"I'll have the grand Brahmin burger with BBQ sauce, and I'll take it as a whole meal."<p>

"Are you vegetarian?" It asked.

"No, so don't substitute; I really hate the substituted stuff." He told the machine.

It whirred as it took the order down and moved on, it stopped at Garrus and Tali.  
>"Welcome, would you like to order as a couple?" It asked.<p>

Garrus and Tali looked at each other and responded.  
>"We aren't a couple." They looked at each other.<p>

"Acknowledged, what will you order?" It asked.

"I'll have a dextro-acid based purified paste in a tube, make that extra sterilized, my immune system isn't very good." She ordered.

"I'll just have the same, just in a soup, not a paste." Garrus ordered.

It moved on to Wrex.  
>"What do wish to order?"<p>

"I'll have a look at the menu…" He replied.

The machine pulled out a holographic list and Wrex looked it over, he brought out a pair of spectacles to take a proper look and found the meats list.  
>"I'll have the 40 pound Tannereg Bison steak, medium rare."<p>

"Very well." The machine whirred and left.

It went over to the others and passed quickly, Shepard ordered a healthy meal, she felt that she hadn't had anything better to eat in months so this would be of some relief than eating HSA supplied foods, the meals were stale to say the least. The crew didn't need to wait long, Joker's meal arrived in a flash, the drone seemed to just teleport the food on the table, literally.

Joker dug in with a hearty bite.  
>"So damn good." He said taking a bite.<p>

"Really it's that good?" Ashley asked.

"It's better than sex, so yeah." He replied with his mouth full.

Ash rolled her eyes and got to eating, Kaiden was enjoying something that he had no honest clue about. It was a bowl of red gel that soaked what looked like dumplings.  
>"What is that?" Liara asked.<p>

"You know I have no honest idea." He said as he carefully shoved a mouthful and chewed.  
>"It's sweet and sort of chewy." He said as he tried to eat.<p>

Wrex got his dinner which took up about 1/10th of the table.  
>"Oh good dinner."<p>

"What the heck?" Ashley stated gawking at the size of the steak that Wrex had ordered.

"What I like to eat big." He replied getting his knives down on the flesh and began chopping away.

"Like all krogan right?" Anderson said as he arrived with a small tray.

"Anderson where did you come from?" Shepard asked.

"Got back from some com channels on the command deck, I had to get a message over to command about the situation, they're expecting a full report on the status of the forces back at Epping and probably a good explanation to the UCAF." He shrugged.

"Well at least we've got you for company, thought it was kind of getting dull here all by our lonesome selves." Ashley joked.

Wrex chomped down like a hungry varren, and he had the table manners of a varren, the amount that he spilled out from his mouth honestly could put off a turian from eating for a week. Garrus was almost going to oblige the krogan; he looked away and got back to his own meal. As for Tali, she had her paste and she was trying to get a straw into her visor mouthpiece.  
>"Damn emergency induction port…"<p>

"That's a straw Tali." Garrus observed.

"Emergency Induction Port…" She repeated.

"And I said that's a straw." He replied.

Tali sighed. She bent over the table in a flash and grabbed Garrus by the neck and said.  
><strong>"Emergency Induction Port!" <strong>She yelled in his face while holding the straw. Practically everyone was looking at her with concerned expressions.

That was the end of that subject at least for now. The dinner went on rather smoothly aside from the Emergency Induction Port incident. In an hour everyone was finished and they all went back to the Normandy, at least that was the initial plan.  
>"Commander Shepard and team please report to lower observation deck 10, Colonel Acker and the Council would like to begin a session."<p>

Shepard was rather surprised; they decided to begin a meeting at 8? She motioned to all of her team members; she also decided to bring Anderson along with Joker. They all headed up to the lower level observation deck, it wasn't hard to find considering that the observation deck was the only one located on level 10 and because there was no level ten where the observation deck was located.

The lift stopped and let them out into a rather spacious room, the floor was transparent, it was a nice view of slip-space, strange thing that the whole view of slip-space seemed to bend light in such a fashion it distorted actual vision. It was a dizzying sight for the crew and focused on the table set out in the middle of the room.

At the table Acker sat with the council members. Shepard arrived with her team and they sat from each other, the colonel began their meeting.  
>"So I assume that you all wish to know why I summoned you here." He asked.<p>

They all nodded.  
>"Very well, this is it, the view."<p>

"This is why you brought us out here?" Shepard deadpanned.

"Well yes, isn't this view amazing? Slip-space, the ability to transcend light with relative ease, being able to travel thousands of light years in hours, all of this was done by the UCAF being able to create and innovate technologically forward without much restraint." He motioned to the cascading light around them.

Shepard figured out what this was about.  
>"So you're going over yourselves?"<p>

"Yes, it was decided that this was a necessary course of action, however I'd like to leave this to Sienna to explain the UCAF and its advances." Acker replied.

Shepard saw Sienna materialise and smile.  
>"Good to see you all again, I do hope my cooking wasn't bad."<p>

"You can cook?" Joker raised an eyebrow.

"Yes Joker I can cook." She rolled her eyes.

"So being the great and powerful AI, why put you on cooking duties?" Ashley asked.

"I've got plenty of room to spare on my CPU to run everything on the ship over 50 times in a matter of nano-seconds; it's just something that I've gotten used to." She replied.

"Back to the point, can we begin?" Anderson interrupted.

"Of course, where would you like me to begin?" She asked.

"This ship, didn't you state that this was only a medium sized vessel, what exactly did you mean medium?" Shepard asked.

Sienna looked at Acker who shrugged; she wasn't going to grant any specific details about the ship, but overall combat capabilities and standard crew compliment and equipment that they probably wouldn't have a clue about understanding.  
>"The Tyrant is a Hellfire Destroyer, a standard assault class warship, a total of 1.75km long and has about 3 meters of reinforced titanium and iridium plating added with energised plating to augment its defences and improve flight capabilities." She replied.<p>

Shepard looked at the AI then to the others in the crew.  
>"Wait how is a 1.75km vessel registered as a medium sized vessel? This things way too big to be even fit inside Arcturus shipyards…"<p>

"Unless we cut off the top half of the section and say it was a bad paint job." Joker addled.

Liara observed the ship before added.  
>"A ship this size must have immense gravitational fields, which means large engines and counter gravitational fields, or it would cause immense seismic activity, and disrupt polar fields."<p>

"That's true, the ship does have counter measures and the armour itself was intended to make smooth transitions into the atmosphere of planets, as for landing, we have our means of landing the ship and I know how to land a ship." Sienna reassured.

"What about armaments? How much heat are we talking about here?" Ashley inquired.

Sienna checked for permission from Acker before continuing.  
>"The Tyrant, our ship has its own weapons, of course they run along a set of standards, but ours was more for combat so I'll get to the point. The Tyrant has an armament of 320 guns, all ranging from light CIWS Vulcan turrets to heavier class Guardian 155mm guns and so forth."<p>

"Well that's a lot of firepower, but why combustion weapons?" Kaiden asked.

"Who said anything about combustion weapons?" Sienna raised an eyebrow.

Sienna pulled out the model of one gun from the primary records.  
>"This is a 105mm Cobra rail battery; she unloads a total of 600 105mm high explosive armour piercing rounds in under a minute, the gun can rupture an enemy's hull within the space of 3 minutes if concentrated enough, that said the gun is only one of the 42 other variations of rail weaponry, the Tyrant has an additional 21 other batteries."<p>

Shepard was now impressed, that gun looked lethal, but not only that if what Sienna said was right then the ship had a lot of firepower to back it up. Liara inquired.  
>"How is it possible for constant ammunition supplies and shells, surely this would put your ship in a situation if you should run short of ammo?"<p>

"Don't worry, the Tyrant has its own way of replenishing ammunition and our stocks are taken whenever we can get the chance to go mining." Sienna replied.

Sienna didn't want to go into details about the one area of weakness the Tyrant might possibly have, she turned back to Ashley.  
>"Is there anything else you'd like to know about the ship?"<p>

"Not much, but what's your primary weapon? You said that the other guns were just defensive and offensive but not the primary weapon." She pointed out.

"Ah, the big guns, the primary weapon of the UCAF on almost all of its warships are called Magnetic Accelerator Cannons; they're called MACs for short. These massive guns are built into the ship when we make them; of course there's been the odd exception or two. The MAC varies upon all ships, the Tyrant is equipped with one Advanced MAC, I won't go into the details of the Advanced MAC, but you can be assured that it can cause more damage than a direct hit from a plasma projector." Sienna explained.  
>"The MAC is a large scale magnetic driver; it is a magnetic coil gun to make it easier. The MAC fires a massive ferric tungsten round, ranging anywhere between 600 tons to 900 varying between vessels as well as the standard MAC, the Tyrant has a MAC equipped designed to fire a 900 ton round. The shots are accelerated by the coil gun at 40% the speed of light as per all standard MACs."<p>

"Sweet merciful spirits, that's a weapon of planetary destruction." Valern gawked.

"Well that's by your standards, ours consider it a normal part of war, we advanced our weapons to keep up with the covenant, this isn't even the most powerful version of the MAC." Sienna replied.

"How powerful are we talking about here?" Garrus inquired.

"Powerful enough to rip a hole in a planet the size of Jupiter and exit through the other side." Sienna told the turian.

"So you're telling us that you've got a shipboard weapon so powerful it can rip holes in planets? And that's not even the most powerful version of that weapon?" Ashley summarised.

"Yes." Sienna told the gunnery sergeant.

"How much force is the standard MAC alone?" Shepard asked.

"1.17 teratons of force for a single shot from a MAC." She replied.

"Ouch, what the hell made you come up with that?" Joker asked.

"War and lots of it." Sienna replied.

"But there's a drawback on this weapon…" Liara stated.

Sienna looked at the asari and replied.  
>"There was a drawback; the MAC could not be fired without causing immense shockwaves, not to mention ships couldn't have guns near the MAC because of the immense fields. But we overcame those issues and created the advanced MAC for all ships."<p>

Liara seemed to take further interest into what Sienna had said if that was true then the gun on this ship would probably cause a lot of problems for the covenant. Valern decided to make an inquiry.  
>"This MAC technology, is this technology readily available?"<p>

"Yes and no, the UCAF military branch provide all MAC weaponry and armaments, there is nothing that the UCAF senate overlooks, so for you councillor, there's no chance that the UCAF government would be willing to grant you such immense level of firepower in this century." Sienna replied.

The councillor looked annoyed, but she was right, he had intended to access the UCAFs vast armaments if he could, but it was unlikely that they'd trust him at all. Tevos asked.  
>"For the ship, I've noticed that you have medical wards, and many augmented doctor, could you please explain to me their purpose?"<p>

"You mean the apothecaries? They've been here since the beginning of the war and even before then, apothecaries are doctors and surgeons, just that we get them from various other places such as augmented worlds, and they bring along vast medical knowledge with mechanical skills to boot. They double as medics and cybernetic surgeons; if a limb goes missing in the field they replace it, and a lot of other things." Sienna replied.

"That's nice to know, I'll be sure to keep myself from being shot." Garrus stated in mock concern.

Maelon asked.  
>"Does this ship possess any sort of science section or department?"<p>

"Yes, but it hasn't been in use for a while, and most expeditions are done by proper science vessels not military crafts." Sienna informed him.

"I see." He replied.

"For the UCAF is it uncommon to have young soldiers?" Liara asked.

"No, why do you ask?" Sienna replied.

"It's just that earlier today I found out that there are a number of young boys, young teens about 15 to 16 on the ship, they told me that they're soldiers. They call themselves 'young bloods'." Liara inquired.

"Ah the youth corps, I see what you are trying to ask. Why do we have such young soldiers?" Sienna asked.

"Yes." Liara confirmed.

"Well for the UCAF young soldiers are an uncommon sight, primarily because they're needed for deployment on colonies, they're soldiers and are based as such, and they are trained to fight at a young age and then deployed to gain further experience." Sienna explained.

"Wait so you're telling us that out of all of your advanced weaponry and technology you revert to child soldiers?" Ashley asked in disgust.

"It's not that simple, we've had a fight with the covenant for a very long time, and with the number of casualties it's understandable we needed more personnel to continue the fight. We don't draft our soldiers, not unless their homes are under direct attack, then they're required to make a sacrifice in order to save others." Sienna replied.

"But how did this even come to pass, surely people would have opposed such a policy?" Tevos asked.

"No one did, very simple, our wars had come at high costs in the past, and we had required soldiers like now, that policy never changed even after the colonial war. But it was never initiated until the war with the covenant, and for very good reasons." Sienna replied.

"What could possibly justify sending kids out to die in some god damn war?" Ashley asked heatedly.

"Well considering our enemies have no humanitarian policy towards enemy colonies or sympathy to their people they went and massacred whole colonies of defenceless people. And the youth corps was the only ones left to fight them so, it was a necessary decision, and it wasn't even considered evil when you're faced with utter extermination at the hands of religious zealots." Sienna retorted in clear comeback.

Ashley paused for a moment. Shepard decided to intervene.  
>"What I think we should all know is how these youth corps came about?"<p>

"The youth corps was a division of colonial militia employed only during times of war when a colony is under threat, they're recruited from training academies which provided military personnel who ended up in the UCAF, for those who were being trained on their worlds they were required to prepare for any possible unforseen event. That was the covenant war, and when they got sent out to fight, they held their ground in order to evacuate a whole colony, and evacuate other personnel." Sienna explained.

"So they're a stalling method to save lives?" Liara asked.

"Yes, that was the initial reason for their existence, but as the war progressed, more orphans from the colonies arrived into the inner colonies and the barrier worlds, we realised that there were a number of youth fighters amongst them, and many wanted to continue their war against the covenant. We couldn't stop them and so we allowed them to join the forces. Roughly a billion of displaced children filled the ranks of the UCAF and have continued to fight since the beginning to end." Sienna replied.

"And how is it that isn't some sort of lie in order to get more soldiers to your side? Or just an excuse?" Ashley accused.

"Maybe because it was necessity?" Acker replied.

"And how could you have known?" Ashley asked.

"Because I was a young blood." He replied.

XXXXX

Location: Helios Cluster

The Helios cluster had been active as of late and with so many council ships rushing between it and the rest of council space they overlooked the various systems nearby. The portal incident had forced the fleet to hold at the portal and could not pursue any leads on the hostiles which attacked; because of this a unique opportunity arose for one species of aliens.

In the depths of the Helios cluster a single frigate navigated its way around a debris field of ships, this large clutter of vessels had been here for a long time, and some even older than the protheans, but the husks were mostly empty and there was no doubt that there wasn't anything worth salvaging.

On board the ship a suited alien slender in figure commanded her vessel.  
>"Reis, keep an eye on those hulls, if there's anything worth salvaging mark them out for the flotilla."<p>

"Yes ma'am." The young navigator replied.

"How many ships could there be in this field alone?" One officer asked.

"More than enough to keep the flotilla going for a while longer." The captain replied.

"Captain, I've got something." An ensign reported.

"What is it?" She asked.

"An emergency beacon, it's located about 20,000 meters to our port." He replied.

"An emergency beacon?" The captain said.

"Yes, it's got a strong signature, it's definitely active." He replied.

"Bring us in; I want to get a closer look." She ordered.

The old frigate pulled through the field towards a hulk, a large ship once capable of rendering others to bits and pieces; it was mostly intact save for the top half of the ship. This seemed to be the only large hulk that seemed to be mostly intact.  
>"This is a good find." The captain said.<p>

"Yes, but whoever is alive will claim that hulk as theirs, we can't break the law, any survivors of a hulk have claim to that vessel no matter condition." Her officer reminded her.

"I know we're still in council space, damn regulations. But still it would be a nice treat to finally have something space worthy for once." She replied.

As they got closer, the ship searched for the source of the beacon.  
>"I've got a lock, its located roughly 200 meters in the lower hold of this ship, should we send a retrieval team?"<p>

The captain contemplated this decision.  
>"There's always the possibility of a trap or a treasure, but the hulk's necessary for the flotilla. Send out a team to begin searching."<p>

The officer nodded and gathered a scavenging team.

XXXXX

The team arrived at the bay of what was once a hangar, it looked like it had seen better days, and most of the machinery inside had been destroyed by something powerful. There was heavy radiation inside of this section.  
>"Great what the hell are we supposed to be looking for?" One engineer asked.<p>

"A survivor, if this person's alive, then we have orders to secure them for transport, then mark out the ship for recovery if they're dead then we can have the ship." The marine in charge replied.

"Oh good, more damn recovery missions, is there anything we don't do that's involved in getting trapped on dead husks of vessels?" A team member asked.

"Oh shut it will you? We've got to get moving." The team leader ordered.

They floated through the ship interior and entered into cramped corridors, there was a lot of precarious navigation, they stumbled upon a few bodies from the ship, and they seemed to have been human.  
>"What the hell were humans doing all the way out here?"<p>

"Who knows let's just keep moving, I'd rather figure it out later when we're not in an enclosed space." The engineer replied.

They arrived into a large section of the ship it seemed abandoned, there were tables all over the place turned over or floating loosely. They passed through the room and arrived on the other side, they made their way to the signal, and it was close very close. They arrived at a jarred door, it didn't take much to open, as soon as they were inside, and it seemed that there was nothing but a room with many tubes and a large box like central computer.

"Why is the emergency signal coming from this place? It doesn't look like anything except a server room." The engineer stated.

"Probably a black box recording then, if so we're good to marking this as ours." The leader replied.

They got to the middle of the room and began to search; the engineer found a panel and began to cut open the machine.  
>"Hmm, this looks interesting."<p>

He hit a function on the computer and started it up; he looked at the machine as it began to run.  
>UCAF STORAGE UNIT-233-331- BEGINNING STARTUP-/

"Uh-oh…" He said as the whole room began to light up, the quarian team was blinded as the machine began to run emergency start-up.  
>"What the hell's going on?"<p>

"Some sort of backup program, it's getting the whole ship back online, I didn't even know that was possible." The engineer replied.

The room's door shut and then the tubes began to rumble as they revealed what they were. The metal sections of the tubes revealed to be pod shields, they opened up and revealed their contents, and it looked as if there were people frozen inside the pods. The room wasn't full; there were only 5 pods that had people in them.

"Okay maybe we should report this." The engineer stated.

They went over to the pods carefully, the ones occupied had humans in them at least that was the impression they got from the 4 in the pods. They scanned each pod carefully until they arrived at the last one.  
>"What's with this one?" The leader asked.<p>

"It seems like this one's a special case." The engineer replied.

He checked the vitals on the machine.  
>"It seems like some sort of augmented human, but there's something off."<p>

"I can't tell, but the name of this person is. Aegis." He stated.

XXXXX

(Okay that's all I can do for now, I'll pick this up later.)

Also there's quarians playing with fire now, the UCAFs cybernetic members are probably not going to like the quarians very much.


	9. Event 9

Event 9- The Heart of Tempest

XXXXX

Time to take this to the covenant, there'll be a lot of content to cover for the Covenant because of their interactions against the UCAF in the ME universe. Hope to make this one as interesting.

XXXXX

The gunnery sergeant paused to look at Acker; the marine had state pretty clearly about his past.  
>"I've been a young blood the same as many aboard who've served in the UCAF for their entire lifetime, don't fucking bring this out saying what we did wasn't justified."<p>

Ashley sat back and shut up. Tevos decided to make a more careful inquiry.  
>"About your position colonel, as a child soldier… why have you never retired?"<p>

"Because there was never a need to, even if I did retire what exactly would I need to go back for? My colony was gone as were most of those with me, families were either dead or gone, and we'd never find them again. For us that was it. We gutted out a purpose as soldiers and we've never regretted our decision." He replied.

"But why serve for so long?" Valern asked.

"What would be better? I quit and started a life while others like me fought the good fight? That's the easy way out of a war, I'd sworn to see my war to its end as did the many like us, there was more to life than just farms and a comfortable home, purpose to us was hard, it was a challenge and we saw the war as a challenge to be overcome with strength and determination. The covenant was relentless and so were we. We had to do what we could in order to save others from becoming like us. We could do what others could not and we could save them from our fate, and that was a lifetime of war, a lifetime spent killing until we could kill no more. For us it was death, and we wanted to take death as payment for our war." He replied.

"Poetic, I'll admit that's poetic." Joker snagged.

"Truly a warrior's creed, too bad not many humans are like him eh Shepard?' Wrex said to the commander.

Shepard nodded and asked.  
>"I've got to ask, but why did you help us on Epping?"<p>

"Why wouldn't we? We had a common enemy and that was enough, at least until we had dealt with the covenant, as to why we're helping now, we've got a common interest and that's the covenant in your galaxy, I thought that much was apparent." He replied.

"So you plan to leave as soon as this crisis is adverted?" Tevos asked.

"Pretty much the UCAF has no intentions to keep us here any longer than we're supposed to be here, and besides I'm supposed to be retired as of next year." He shrugged as he replied.

"You're getting retired? How old are you?" Ashley asked.

"Hasn't anyone told you it's rude to ask a man his age?" Wrex said to Ash.

"I'm about 27, and I've been in service for more than half of my life, which puts me in the retirement range." He explained to Ash.

"You've been in service for over 15 years and now you're being laid off? How the hell will you survive?" Ash asked.

"Easy, UCAF retirement program for all UCAF personnel grant us any world we can inhabit as soon as we retire, we can become really anything and any funding is usually paid to us in government packages, and all service payments are deducted from any bills or taxes, so we're pretty much taken care of by the system." He replied.

"So you'll be given a completely government overseen retirement program?" Shepard said.

"Yes, that's pretty much it." He confirmed.

"Wow a socialist form of government that cares for soldiers isn't that new…" Joker rolled his eyes.

"Well I don't see any problem with it, the UCAF has been like this since it was founded, but there hadn't been any war since its founding so the UCAF allowed military personnel to claim any price on retirement after more than 12 years of service." He replied to Joker's snide remark.

"Well at least tell me if they match you're 40-60K." Joker said.

Sienna actually explained that one. "They pay him roughly 120-180K if you're counting active duty during holidays, seriously though the UCAF required us to be in constant active duty, so our retirement payouts were much larger because of our ability to continually fight even though being exhausted."

"I can see why your military is so well accepted." Liara commented.

"Well it's how the UCAFs done things for a while, it can't be helped. At least not until the war ends, afterwards they'll bring back more breaks, and change the pay, but for all regulars, we're in service the way we are." Acker stated.

"So to move this discussion further, how do you plan on going after the covenant?" Shepard asked.

"I don't intend to go after them; I expect them to come after us, the covenant is being led by a still zealous elite force along with a few mixed troops of brutes, if this splinter force has any plans they'll go after the next point of interest." Acker explained.

"And what will be the next point of interest?" Ashley asked.

"The place that they can get their hands on more ancient technology and weaponry, they'll ping with subspace fields and map out for any possible technology that the forerunners have left behind, if they should locate it, the signal will reach us as well as them. There was a bit of a drawback with long range transmissions especially across the galaxy, there's no relay point to send the message onwards and thus anyone with our level of slip-space tech could intercept them. If the covenant makes a move we'll know." He explained.

"Okay now that you've assured us that, what about further support? Didn't your people have a massive military force?" Ashley asked.

"We do, but they can't be routed over here because of the situation back on our end hasn't been resolved, the critical forces of the covenant remain, they pose a far greater threat than a rogue band of zealots on a separate mission. For us this is just a mission we have to handle without further support and if the UCAF could lend us support they'll only do it out of necessity." He replied.

"Okay I think that's all we could think about asking." Liara said.

"Yeah forget this, I can't stand another hour of chatting about universal counterparts and what not, this is really getting exhausting." She said yawning.

"I guess we can continue this at another point in time, I'm sure that our arrival at the Citadel should be a priority, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of media attention to the crisis." Valern stated.

The other councillors agreed they had a public image to hold. As they packed it in for the night, Acker let everyone else go first; he had something's to talk about between him and Sienna.  
>"So I guess we can agree that these people probably have no idea what's coming?"<p>

"They've lived without a serious war for too long, without reaching the level the Forerunners were at when they collapsed; they're ignorant to the threats of the known universe. But we can't help it, they've lived like this for generations, we don't have a say in what they do. For now I think we should prepare to ride this out, and then we'll get back home. Who knows maybe the war will end by the time we get back." He stated as he got out a data pad and checked any reports.

"I wouldn't mind having you around dear colonel, Andrea could use some help." She said with a smile and then vanished as the colonel threw her a look. He hated when AI tried to solve relationships, he just hoped that she didn't cause a situation, especially since her mess up with a woman named Melissa that got her into a lot of trouble.

Besides he still had a feeling that Aegis was still waiting for him…

XXXXX

Helios Cluster- Defunct Hulk

Inside the stasis chamber the team found themselves in a very uncertain situation. The pod was active, but it seemed that the activation of the computer mainframe the whole chamber was active; all the pods were slowly coming back online.  
>"Erena, what do we do?" The engineer asked the commander of the team.<p>

"Secure that console, shut it down now!" She ordered.

The engineer tried but the console was unresponsive, it didn't seem to do anything, it refused to let the engineer back inside.  
>"It's holding me out, I don't know how, but the computer's rejecting me, its routing power through the ship, it seems to be activating all primary reactors, I can't stop it!"<p>

"Then disable the computer!" Erena ordered.

The engineer tried to open the computer console panel, but it was welded shut, the engineer began trying to rip it open with a cutter, the engineer brought it out on the panel and slowly began trying to cut through, but it burned far too slowly.  
>"I don't think that this'll do."<p>

"Do it as fast as you can." The commander ordered.

The computers began to activate the cryo-pods, the pods began to heat up, emergency protocols were in effect, and the pods were activated for possible combat scenarios. The pods began to heat up, the quarians aimed their weapons at the pods, but the thing was that the people inside the pods were unarmed.

The commander of the team called back to the ship.  
>"Erena to Sorodo, we've got problems!"<p>

"What's happening Erena? We've got activity on that ship; the energy is being routed to your location!" The captain said in concern.

"We've stumbled into a stasis chamber, there's living humans, but they've got a cybernetic amongst them, we were hoping to hold them in, but it seems that they wired their ship with a trap to activate as soon as someone activated the computer here. We've got another minute before the pods activate." Erena reported.

The captain paused before replying.  
>"You have my permission to hold that human crew there, and if that synthetic attempts anything you may disable it."<p>

The commander acknowledged, she knew that the captain had just given her a priority order that meant dealing with the synthetic human, even if this brought them all into question about the incident with the humans. The pods began their last moments of heating.  
>"The pods are completing cycling process; they'll be open in a few more seconds." The engineer said as she began to give up.<p>

The engineer gave up as she only got half way through the panel.  
>"There's no way to stop it…"<p>

"Damn." Erena hissed.

They waited for the pods to open; the steam in one pod blurred anyone from seeing what was happening, but the others were still visible, the cybernetic human seemed to be the only one that didn't require much heating, the pod just steamed for a bit before it began its last sequence. At this point the first pods opened.

The doors exploded in steam, the mist filling the room, the quarians had to carefully stay in range of the pods as they opened. The first person to start stirring was a young teenager, the next was an adult male, the third person was a woman in full body armour, and the last human was a woman as well, she had a skin tight suit.

The first to get up was the teen, his eyes cracked open and he stumbled forwards, he collapsed onto his knees and began to throw up into the grated floor.  
>"Fucking tasteless crap!" He commented wiping his mouth of the bad after taste.<p>

The next was the woman in armour, she commented on the young teen.  
>"You should probably have swallowed that Ken; we won't have anything else to eat for a while." She said looking about.<p>

She noticed the quarians pointing guns at them.  
>"Ken I'd like to add that we have guests."<p>

"I know my sense of smell, and these fuckers stink of sterilized air and oil, probably some other things as well." He commented.

"Stay exactly where you are." Erena stated clearly with her gun.

"Yeah and what are you going to do? Hit me with that piece of crap? I can move faster than you can shoot." Ken grinned with malicious intent.

The quarians were suddenly feeling nervous, the teen seemed bloodthirsty, and it put them all on edge how he seemed to care less if that they were armed. Erena turned about to check on the others, the pod with the cybernetic human hissed open. The technician of her team was the only one keeping her gun trained at the being inside.

It took moments for the cyborg to awaken and begin actively scanning the room.  
>"Unknowns detected, 4 friendlies, armed unknowns presume hostilities…"<p>

"Aegis, don't move, we don't want to cause a scene." The eldest looking male ordered to the cyborg.

"Lieutenant Autumn I cannot obey such directive, unidentified hostiles non-human in origin have taken this vessel, I am dictated to immediately intervene and eradicate threats to remaining crew." She replied.

"And how will you do that you fleshy piece of crap? Last time I checked we have the guns not you…" The technician didn't need to speak as Aegis' arms opened up; the arms of the cyborg were mounted by large drum barrels with laser sights aimed at them.  
>"Would you like to continue your threat?" She asked.<p>

The technician was suddenly feeling not so confident about the situation.  
>Erena called to the ship again.<br>"Sorodo, we have a situation here."

"We know, we have one as well, unknown signatures off of our aft, we can't determine if they're hostile or not, the junk around this place is blocking our sensors, all we can determine is that this vessel is on a direct intercept to our location. You need to move now!" The captain ordered.

Erena tried to get this resolved.  
>"Look here, trying to eliminate us won't do you any good, you aren't in the place wherever it is you people come from, but we have trouble…"<p>

"I have intercepted transmissions from this alien's suit, there is a high probability of another hostile vessel, and they are on approach to the Bastille. Lieutenant what course of action shall we take?" Aegis asked the officer.

Autumn looked at the alien commander and said.  
>"You said that you were coming here for the ship, if want anything we can help, but only to a certain agreement, you get us off of our damaged hulk and I'll see what I can provide."<p>

"And why should we agree to help you?" Erena asked.

"Because, Aegis here has her orders, she'll carry them out if you shoot us, and you haven't fought a member of the FAITH special operations or to the point, our protocol dictates we must dispose of all of our technology and equipment to stop anyone from using them. And that means that the ship's fusion reactors are on a nuclear countdown or a trigger, you and your ship along with the rest of us are going to be a pile of atomized dust in the next half an hour if you don't help us." He replied.

Erena challenged.  
>"And what makes you think that you'd take yourselves with us?"<p>

"I don't Aegis however will." He replied coldly.

Erena looked at him, she knew that this human wasn't bluffing, and to top off the fact that the cyborg was also an unexpected factor meant that they weren't going anywhere fast. This was a lose-lose situation for her. She had little time to consider, and then she made her mind up.  
>"You better damn have something to bargain with human…" She hissed.<p>

Erena motioned to her team.  
>"We're going now!"<p>

"But what about the captain?" The technician asked.

"I'll deal with Kusra on the ship, hopefully there's something salvageable from this disaster." She said motioning her team to the door.

Autumn called over to Aegis.  
>"Aegis follow command directive, we're leaving."<p>

Aegis was hesitant but acknowledged the order, the Lt usually did what he thought was in the best interest of the team, and he did have his reasons. The members of the UCAF squad got their gear out from the pods; there was always emergency equipment in case of decompression or lockdown during a battle.

The marines got their suits on and pulled out a few weapon kits, that's all they had to go on. But before they left, Lt Autumn ordered his specialist to get the black box from the computer. The young marine did so and removed a small black cased object with what looked like a crystal centre. The team got to the door where the quarians were waiting.

Erena was back on the horn with the ship.  
>"We have survivors on their way with us, and the synthetic, captain prepare to make an emergency jump as soon as we get back, this hulks been rigged with a nuclear charge."<p>

"Say again, did you just say that the ship's going to explode?" The captain asked.

"Confirmed, the humans say that there's some sort of failsafe that the ship had activated, we need to leave now!" She replied.

"Dammit, the shuttle's coming along, but you have limited time, our sensors show multiple vessels landing on the hulk, hostiles are on their way." The captain warned.

"We better hurry." Erena said preparing to decompress the room.

"Well we're all set." Autumn replied getting his AR-45 cocked.

Erena hit the doors and the air burst from the room, they got out of the room in single file down the corridor to the hangar, the quarians took point while the UCAF members took rear. Autumn kept his gun trained ahead, as for the rest of his team Aegis had the rear with her dual Gatling drums. The team moved quickly through the corridors passing through the same path they had taken to get into the ship.

As they moved through the passage ways they could feel movement, vessels shaking the ship as they attached themselves, they didn't have much time. They turned around the next bend into the corridor into the hangar when they saw 'them'. The flashlight like heads of the sleek machines blinded them as they got into the corridor.

The first thing that the quarians did was open fire, the UCAF members hadn't a clue of what the machines were but just followed suite. The hallway was ignited, sharp lances of light colliding with the wall around them, the Lt got his rifle and fired a 3 round burst into the head of the nearest machine, its shields collapsed and the last round caught it in the face.

The quarians were rather surprised, they hadn't realised that there was geth forces here.  
>"If the geth are here do you think they're after the hulk as well?" The technician asked.<p>

"How the hell should I know?" Erena replied firing with her SMG at the machines.

The geth fired in unison pinning the quarians and the UCAF with fire. Autumn decided to cut time.  
>"Aegis, rip them apart!"<p>

Aegis acknowledged and stepped from cover, the quarians were baffled as to what the cyborg human was going to do. Aegis pulled both arms up and spun her guns up, the hail of fire she was receiving was absorbed by her shields and it was only when the barrels were red hot that the geth realised that they had made a fatal error.

The barrels unleased a wall of fire, all the barrels ignited and sprayed the corridor with inferno rounds, the geth had moments before they were shredded to pieces by the wall of fire, the 12.7mm shells ejected in a flurry and then a deathly silence took hold, the quarians could see the damage from the cyborg, her weapons had left the corridor in a horrendous state. Red hot holes peppered every length of the corridor and the geth were piles of scrap that ran the length of the corridor.

Aegis informed the Lt.  
>"Targets neutralized, please continue with objective."<p>

The Lt motioned for his team to take point this time; they hurried behind him with the quarians in tow. They glided into the hangar bay as a large purple bulbous ship began to drop forces down into the hangar; another 2 dozen geth appeared, this time with a bit more support. A pair of geth juggernauts and snipers began to fire on them.

"Damn this'll take forever to punch through." Erena shouted.

Autumn looked at the quarians and then ordered his team.  
>"Aegis, cover Jen and Hartman, I'll go down the middle with Ann." He ordered.<p>

Aegis acknowledged and began to fire her dual wrist cannons in heavy bursts sending the geth to cover while destroying a few of them. Jen and Hartman jumped into the fray splitting into across the geth and firing at them to pin them while Ann and Lt Autumn took the foreground. They then in turn covered Jen and Hartman; Aegis took up the rear and covered all of them.

Autumn decided to spring a surprise tactic.  
>"Hartman, you know what to do!"<p>

The youth smiled, it was his time to let loose, and his smile froze as he began to use neural relays in his body, the biomechanical wiring activating an overdrive of nano-machines running every piece of his body. He then activated the neural codes to release his special mix, the BEAST was coming… His expression was frozen from not the blood thirst; it was because his muscles were overloaded with painful bioelectric energy pumping his body's adrenal glands to go into overdrive.

He opened up his eyes and then stood up and opened them again, he felt the rush, all the emotions within his mind bursting, his neural computer was the only thing directing him at this point, and it directed his body to attack. He leapt from cover and within micro-seconds he analysed all hostiles, all machines and planned his attack, and then he went for the kill.

No normal human could see how fast a Berserker moves, purely because they're not meant to be like a human, they're purpose is to kill anything and everything. The geth reacted moments too slow, as the blur rushed forwards; the berserker rammed his arm through the nearest target. His hands touched the geth juggernaut that had moved from cover, his arm hit the kinetic barrier, but it was never meant to stop large object especially something the size of a human, Hartman slammed the machine into the ground and collapsed the machine's chest.

But what was more surprising was that his hands hadn't broken on impact with the armoured carapace of the geth, to add to that, the berserker hands had transformed, his fingers were sharpened, points tipped talons ripped into the body of the machine on impact, and then came the hideous sounds of rendering metal.

Hartman continued shredding into the machine's body until he was fired upon by the other geth, they had prioritized that Hartman was the primary threat, which was damn accurate considering how much was left of humanity. He took a few shots but to the surprise of the geth his wounds and punctures healed within moments, and he jumped through the hangar and began to shred into the geth, his speed was something that the geth could not keep up with.

He grappled another 3 more geth and smashed the last juggernaut to pieces before they could land another wave of hits. He looked around searching for more threats, but he could see none, the team got over to him covering their corners as they made sure the berserker was fine.  
>"Hartman stand down!" Autumn ordered.<p>

The young killing machine acknowledged and went into a hibernated state. The quarians on the team's rear arrived to only see the sheer amount of damage from the young man, Erena observed and asked.  
>"What the hell is he?"<p>

"Something you'll never understand, now call your shuttle!" Autumn replied angrily.

Erena backed off on retorting to the Lieutenant, but he had just saved them the trouble of fighting their way out of the hangar, she called on her com.  
>"Hangar is clear send in the shuttle."<p>

"Acknowledged shuttle is on its way." The pilot replied.

A dull roar of engines came through the hangar as the quarian shuttle arrived; it was an old model that looked as if it could have seen better days. It landed on ventral jets on the platform closest to their position. Autumn motioned for his team to cover him as he helped carry the unconscious Hartman to the shuttle with Ann.

As they all got to the shuttle another geth drop ship arrived with another wave of troops, they thankfully had no intentions to go through another fight with the geth and clambered onto the shuttle before the geth could bring their weapons to bear. The shuttle lifted off before its door could close a short burst of small weapons fire hit the shuttle, but the shuttle held.

"Damn that was close." The quarian technician huffed nervously.

Erena turned her attention back to the humans.  
>"You better have a damned good reason for my captain for taking you with us on the ship." She said threateningly.<p>

"I'll be sure to give it to them soon." He replied aptly.

The shuttle navigated through the debris field to the Sorodo, the enemy fighters hadn't bothered to target the shuttle yet, but they were harassing the Sorodo, the pilot warned them.  
>"We're coming in hot; the Sorodo won't last much longer out here."<p>

"Then get us aboard." Erena replied irritably.

The shuttle passed into the hangar narrowly avoiding a scrap pile as it made a quick landing, the shuttle made a heavy thud landing on the deck of the ship.  
>"We're down." The pilot said opening the hatch.<p>

Erena's team and Lt Autumn's were both greeted warmly by the Sorodo's security detachment, a squad of quarian marines met them with rifles pointed.  
>"Hold it right there."<p>

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" Erena asked angrily.

"We have orders to detain both of you, especially you humans." The marine sergeant replied.

"You sure as hell won't last long if you try." Autumn tapped his pistol.

The other members of his squad were ready to pounce on the quarians with whatever they had, the quarian marine didn't sway, and he stood there and contemplated the situation. It wasn't until a voice cut over the sudden standoff.  
>"Sargent, stand down!"<p>

The quarian marines turned to see a quarian officer, not like the sergeant. Erena identified him.  
>"Commander Dar'ea, sir!"<p>

"That's enough Sargent, Erena was acting on my orders and the captains we had no idea the geth would arrive from this incident." He stated defensively and then ordered.  
>"You are required at your stations; we have geth on our tails and more important issues at hand."<p>

"Sir, as you wish." The quarian marine threw one last look before they hurried off.

Erena stepped off of the shuttle and greeted the commander.  
>"Thank you Commander Dar'ea."<p>

"Not a problem, but don't make a habit of getting yourself into trouble." He turned his attention to the humans.  
>"Looks like you've got yourselves some friends."<p>

Autumn introduced himself.  
>"I'm the officer in charge, Lieutenant Autumn, UCAF spec ops 45th Vanguard corps."<p>

"Good to meet you, but formalities aside, we have your ship going into meltdown and a whole mess of geth on our asses right now. We need to get the hell out of here, but our path is being blocked by the geth, we need to get clear of this debris field, well our helmsman is desperately navigating this pile of scrap though a literal minefield we have fighters to be fending off." His speech was emphasises by the loud explosions nearby.

"I think we can help, but you'll need us to free one of our injured in your infirmary…" He motioned to the unconscious teen and then to his other members.  
>"…I have a member of my team that can help deal with all of your problems."<p>

Erena noticeably shifted her attention to the cyborg female, and then she watched as the commander carefully decided.  
>"Very well, you take him to the infirmary." He ordered one of Erena's team to go take the boy.<br>"The rest of you back to your stations we have geth crawling over us." The other members broke away to go and get to combat stations.

"Very well, seeing as I don't have much of an option, I'll let the captain decide if you can help." The commander said.

Autumn nodded, Dar'ea then motioned.  
>"Let's get to the bridge."<p>

The group headed up through the nearest doorway into the ship, they reached the lifts through the lower maintenance level, the lift ride up was rather long and silent aside from the odd rocking of the ship, and it seemed that the lifts were about as slow as waking to the top of the ship. In an honest opinion, Lt Autumn thought that the quarians would use this as a form of torture for those in a rush.

They arrived on the command deck where the captain was shouting out orders as the Sorodo carefully nudged its way to freedom, but it wasn't fast enough to dodge all of the geth vessels in range.  
>"Dar'ea what's the meaning of this?" The captain asked as she motioned to the humans.<p>

"Ma'am, I've got the humans from the ship, and they've offered to help us escape from the geth." He replied with the offer.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" She asked aptly.

Autumn replied. "I have a team member that can supplement your entire ship's crew, she has a unique means of interfacing."

"What?" The captain perplexed.

"Do you know that synthetic I had reported previously?" Erena reminded.

"Yes." The captain replied.

"Well they have a cybernetic human; she has proven rather capable despite being half of both." Erena explained as she motioned to the woman in a single skin tight suit that looked much like her body.

The captain looked over to Aegis apprehensively.  
>"And how will I know that she wouldn't just kill us all as soon as we're clear?"<p>

[Paragon Option: Do you want to take your chances?]

[Renegade Option: You guess it yourself…]

(Yes I'm leaving it for you guys to decide!)

XXXXX

Well that's all I can do for now, I have to get back to work and such and such, and I have about 3 other fics that need updating ASAP, sorry guys I'll catch up with you later!


	10. Event 10

Event 10- Storm Breaker

XXXXX

(Out of 7 votes to 3, Paragon Action)

XXXXX

Lt Autumn decided to express the urgency of the situation.  
>"Look here, you need help, would you rather die out here in the depths of some junk field with us, or would you rather risk just for once allowing someone to help?" He asked the alien captain.<p>

The woman was running out of time, she looked at him in utter silence; she mulled it over before a shock rang through the ship, and she then nodded.  
>"Very well, but I swear she does anything else, I'll personally put a bullet in her head."<p>

"Keelah finally some logic." The engineer muttered from behind.

"Aegis wire up to the ship, get us out of danger here." He asked the cybernetic woman.

She nodded and then walked over to the CIC galaxy map, of course the UCAF members didn't know what the hell the purpose of an oversized holo-projector would be used for, but they trusted Aegis seemed to have an idea of what to do. Aegis put her arm against the interface of the console and began to work away, she then stated.  
>"I have control."<p>

The whole ship bucked to one side rather abruptly, everyone was slightly surprised at the jolt but the fact that the ship just avoided being struck by an incoming shell was better than being blown to pieces. The Sorodo flew towards the debris field incredibly fast, the helmsman stated in panic.  
>"Merciful ancestors, what the hell are you doing?"<p>

The ship made corkscrew manoeuvres through the debris field avoiding being hit by junk the size of small ships, the geth attempted to follow in pursuit, but lagged behind with their vessels not possessing the sheer precision of an Ai, the smaller geth fighters still remained, but Aegis made sure that they couldn't lock a close hit.

The Sorodo went straight for an asteroid, the crew panicked for a moment. Autumn grabbed a nearby pole with the other members and braced for a hard turn. Aegis guided the Sorodo, she dove the ship into a narrow gap in the asteroid large enough to fit the Sorodo and then brought them out in a sharp angle out of another point in the asteroid, she fired the lasers on the exit as they flew away, the geth fighters had unwittingly flown straight into the wall of rocks and exploded.

"All enemy fighters eliminated breaching edge of debris field… alert nuclear launch/overload detected." She stated in a monotone.

The geth which had surrounded the UCAF Bastille only had moments to realise that a massive energy surge was coming and before they could move away the ship erupted from its engines, the massive burst of energy ripped across the debris field and consumed the geth ships in fusion fire, the whole field was encompassed in an aurora of light.

Aegis navigated the Sorodo to a safe jump point just before the impact of the first shockwave arrived. The Sorodo kicked off into FTL, leaving a burst of subspace energy in its wake. On the ship, Aegis was disconnecting herself from the ship; the crewmen on the ship looked around recovering from their rather abrupt adventure through the debris field.

Erena was the first quarian member to recover quickly to help the captain up.  
>"This better be the last time I have to make another quick escape." She muttered dusting herself off.<p>

"So I take it that you can drop us off at the next stop?" Lt Autumn said standing in front of the captain.

"You're lucky we don't just decide to dump you into space, but we don't have the time to wait for the geth, we have a priority to report back to the flotilla to stop and drop you, so no." She replied bitterly.

"Well isn't that great, you plan to take us to your ship? Is that a good idea?" Jen asked aptly.

"No but I don't have a choice in this matter, and there's the fact that our little run in at the debris field had drained half of our helium-3, we only have enough to make a trip to the flotilla, so you'll just have to stick with us." The captain replied clearly not happy with the idea of sticking with the UCAF personnel.

"Well looks like we're in the same boat for a while." Autumn stated.

"No kidding." His fellow officer added.

Erena decided to bring out the introductions.  
>"Kusra, this is Lieutenant Autumn, he states he's from something called the UCAF."<p>

"I'd say it's been an interesting first meeting if it wasn't under such unpleasant circumstances." Kusra remarked.

"Likewise, but I'd prefer saying, it's been one hell of a first date." He returned.

"So, where exactly are we heading?" Jen asked.

"We're heading for the Helios Cluster that was the last location that the flotilla was located in before we left; they said that they'd meet us at the refuelling station near the relay, afterwards we'll decide upon what to do next." Kusra replied.

"Oh goody, more aliens, we'll beggars can't be choosers." Cpl Ann stated sarcastically.

"We don't like this anymore than you do, we'd rather be going our own way but sadly we don't have that option yet." Erena remarked.

"So, where do we wait?" Autumn asked.

XXXXX

UCAF 'Against All Tyrants'- En-route to Citadel

The council was busy preparing for their media frenzy, they were to disembark in another 6 hours onto the Citadel to meet with the various senators and politicians that will be present, there was a lot of talk about the current situation and the council had to be there to stabilize the whole debacle at the Portal Incident. And by Acker's definition of stabilize, he knew that this was just another public façade to make everyone know that the council wasn't powerless, it was all hot air, they were bluffing to the galaxy that they still had everything under control, and then they'd bring the UCAF into the whole mess.

Of course the UCAF itself hadn't gone unnoticed, they had the glory of being recognised for blowing a hole in the enemy's defence and helping to retake the planet, minus the fact that the UCAF did pretty much most of the work for the council forces, and to top it off it was only a platoon strength unit that did all of it.

Of course the council was intending to boast about having their newfound allies to back them in their corner to make the other power factions out in the galaxy second guess trying to do anything while the UCAF was here. The move was not unheard of, Acker could understand the whole need to look strong, the council race was anything but capable of heavy military warfare, and they had a few hundred habitable worlds and a number of scattered colonies that would rather remain independent.

The council military forces were also not in the best of condition, considering that they had managed to lose a rather proportionate chunk at the battle for the portal, the council planned on expanding their military budget ever so slightly, which meant a few billion credits to go and rebuild the lost fleet and add an additional 4 or 5 new ones. He honestly felt that the council had purposefully neglected their military without considering long term repercussions of such actions, which is probably why when he read the report from Sienna on the HSA that they secretly making more carriers than actual dreadnaughts, still it wasn't efficient in terms of actual combat those carriers were barely armed with large guns, they were more like a wall of disposable ablative shields in combat.

The whole thing was really a headache for the UCAF, they usually left this in the hands of the ONI section I and II to deal with not themselves to go out and try and make nice. The UCAF hadn't been nice for over 25 years since this damn war started, it was unlikely that they'd change now. But Acker decided to go and act nice, it didn't mean play nice, it meant quote "You go and lie like a mother fucker, and please the crowds for a day." as said by the great Sargent Major Kubrick of the Helldiver's 33rd legion.

Acker made his rounds around the ship in his usual last hour inspection, he made sure that his vessel not only looked intimidating, but his soldiers were top of the line and efficient, they had to look like killers not some rugged boys given guns, even though half of them technically were. He had gotten his reports from the escorts; the commanders on both ships had alerted him to required materials should they need to be rearmed, tungsten, iridium, titanium, and half a dozen other minerals and metals required for the repairs should they need them.

He presumed that if he and the UCAF ships were to get any resupply they'd have to pay in some shape or form, of course he knew that it was a silly gesture, the council would demand a more exact form of payment like tech or knowledge, or weapons that the UCAF had, he'd get court martialled for any violation of UCAF conduct so that was really out of the question.

But he had a fair idea of what to do; he did find one loophole the UCAF would overlook, independent trading, it was a two way trading system that was never officially scrapped since the 23rd century between colonies that were still being found during the mass expansion of the ICA. This independent trading was a business method employed to allow traders to run businesses on other worlds or systems without government intervention, of course he was military but the same could be applied as many expedition forces had done the same, so he did have the ability to utilise this loophole.

The downside was still the fact that his minor fleet had no means of trading, but it did have extensive technological and material knowledge. He could assign a small fraction of his engineers to go and upgrade vehicles and ships for a price a hefty price, of course nothing serious in the sense of UCAF grade armaments, but from what he learnt about the Normandy these people didn't even have basic cloaking tech, or even concealment plating, which was a very surprising failure of technology on their behalf.

The UCAF cloaking tech that they had were implemented on large scale ships to smaller vessels and varying classes of stealth made it easier for Acker, the current stealth tech was basic naval scanner detection, not visible stealth or concealment. He could offer stealth plating and basic visual distortion tech; it wasn't an effective form of stealth considering that the UCAF had long since surpassed such stealth tech since the early colonial wars, if they attempted to use it on the UCAF they wouldn't get very far.

There was also the fact that their armour plating for their ships didn't have sufficient protection against impacts from energy weapons or heavy ship to ship fire, the ablative armour engineering that the UCAF employed would also probably work. He had a nice little bargaining chip that he could also use to make the council agree to his payment terms which would make it easier for him to gain the currency to get materials for his ships, unless he decided to go mining himself, but with this he could kill two birds with one stone.

Acker passed through another set of doors into the hangar bays, he could see plenty of activity, at the middle of all this activity was the Normandy, and the ship was completing final repairs and upgrades, Sienna reported her specific upgrades, new stealth coating, improved honeycomb armour structure to reduce the chances of decompression. The improved armour design was also meant to hold the ship together from falling apart under sustained fire, of course it wasn't that strong, and the ship was still incredibly small to have a fully reinforced structure capable of withstanding heavy energy weaponry.

The engines got an upgrade as well with the careful monitoring of the alien engineer named Tali who continuously had to look over Sienna's shoulder to see what she was doing. Sienna reported the constant badgering hadn't hampered her but in terms of a biological level of understanding it was truly annoying.

There were still plenty of choices on upgrades that could be added that Sienna could spare, but Shepard hadn't yet made her decision on what to choose. Acker decided to go see her about the final upgrades before they had to part ways once they did their debut on the Citadel, Acker knew there might not be time for full upgrades later so he needed to make sure that Shepard everything she needed for the ship.

Upon arrival Shepard was filling through a data pad on all of the ship's upgrades and status, she greeted the Colonel.  
>"Acker, good to see you, I've gone over your AI's upgrades and I need to say this is damn impressive."<p>

"Well if that's impressive you'll love the things that Sienna can do, but I don't think Tali, would agree to have Sienna doing anything more." He replied curtly.

"Yeah, Tali can be a little protective about her space, only thing is that she harbours deep hatreds for synthetics much like most of her race, quarians were always mistreated for their creation of the geth. It's never gotten any better and with Sienna. The quarians past relation with synthetics have left them rather bitter about reality." She expressed with sympathy.

"Well I can imagine, however I wish she'd approach Sienna more professionally, Sienna hasn't wronged Tali in anyway shape or form, but if she wishes to drag this out any further I doubt Sienna would be willing to help with future interactions." He warned the commander.

"I fully understand that Colonel, however I don't think it's that simple to change someone's mind over racial heritage, for the quarians it's the bitterness of synthetics, and their failure to slow progress." Shepard stated defensively.

"Very well, if being able to understand is truly evil, I guess the term "Ignorance is bliss." would suit the quarians fairly well then." He remarked.

"Is there something you need to speak to me about Colonel?" Shepard asked slightly annoyed.

"I was going to ask about further upgrades and about Sienna, she's been having to have Tali looking over what she's been doing constantly its making slow progress and she'd like it if you or some member of your crew could speak to her about harassing Sienna while she's trying to implement the upgrades." Acker replied to the commander clearly.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"Yes, Sienna would like to make further upgrades, but she doesn't honestly have time to make it possible, so she's concluded only 3 more of 6 upgrades are available, you can't change them once we part ways, I'm sure the covenant's going to have me and the Tyrant chasing after them across the galaxy, so you'll have to hold off on getting back with us for a while." He informed her.

Acker passed Shepard the data pad with all of the upgrade details, and then told her a few parting words of advice.  
>"Make sure to keep your eyes open for distortions in the air should you encounter a small covenant raiding party out there commander, you wouldn't like to know what those shimmers could mean if they too close."<p>

Shepard nodded and replied.  
>"Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to remember that if I do encounter the covenant."<p>

He headed back up to the command deck to see Sienna about getting his honour guard put together with a few of the marines, he had to have a few of them going off ship for a nice break, and a look around at the locals, he needed to know what he'd be facing. Shepard watched him depart and then looked at the list of upgrades; she opened up all of the choices she had.

(GO TO THE BOTTOM 'V' TO SEE OPTIONS)

XXXXX

Acker finished up on his rounds and soon arrived back on the bridge, but upon arriving at the bridge he was greeted by the members of the council much to his dismay.  
>"Ah Colonel, it is almost time, I've been hoping to get back to the Citadel to finally sate the concerns of all races that we are safe and in capable hands, I'm sure many people will be interested in meeting with you and your staff." Valern stated rather enthusiastically.<p>

"I'll be sure to make an impression." The Colonel replied curtly.

"Yes, a sure impression of imposing power isn't going to be taken seriously." Maelon remarked sarcastically.

"At least we know of the ability of the colonel, I'm sure you've planned for future engagements with this dangerous force?" Tevos asked.

"I've had plenty of time to prepare; it's merely a matter of whether or not you and your Citadel forces can hold off covenant attacks." He replied.

Sienna appeared. "Sir, I've completed our calculations, we're now dropping out of slip-space, please brace for transition."

Acker acknowledged and sat down in his command chair. Slip-space transitions were never rough, at least not that rough, but they were jumping into a nebula which they hadn't been to before, so it was a wise precaution before they went back into real space. The ship rattled internally as they made the transition out; down in the hangar Shepard had to grasp the rail as the ship rocked slightly.

The bridge was encompassed by the final wisps of light fading as the ship exited FTL, the space outside came rushing forwards as if sucked forwards, but then they halted in a murky looking region of space, it was definitely a nebula.  
>"Full transition complete." Sienna reported.<p>

"That's a relief." Valern commented.

"How far are we from the Citadel?" Acker asked.

"About 20,000km starboard of location." Sienna replied.

"Good take us in, full speed." He ordered.

Sienna acknowledged and the ship began to traverse the cloudy depths of the nebula towards the Citadel, it wouldn't by much longer. Acker turned his attention back to the council.  
>"Councillors, I do believe that now would be a good time to be heading down to the main airlock."<p>

"Of course Colonel, we'll meet you there." Tevos replied before departing.

The councillors mumbled to themselves as they headed down to the lifts. Acker asked Andrea.  
>"Captain, would you like to accompany me for a short shore break?"<p>

Andrea responded to him while finishing up some details on a report.  
>"Sure, I can manage a whole day, it's not like we have anything better to be doing." She shrugged.<p>

Andrea followed after Acker, they both headed out through the lifts, but they had to link up with their honour guard. Arriving at the barracks Acker and Andrea were both greeted by the Helldiver Major Autumn, the major saluted them both.  
>"Sir, I've got 9 men with me and ready to move at your command."<p>

"Thank you Major, we'll meet you down in the main airlock, just make sure not to scare the locals when we exit please." He advised.

"Yes sir." The Major gave a curt nod before heading down the hallway to link up with his men. Acker still had the other members of the command staff to get.

He and Andrea headed over to the 4th level observation deck where the Young Bloods were busy playing blood knuckles. Not far from them, the other crewmen were watching the young teens; among them were Jay and the members of the recon unit.  
>"Jay, where's Commander Brian and Lieutenant Colonel Dresden?"<p>

"I'm right here Colonel." Dresden replied waving his hand absently while continuing to watch the teens.

Dresden was a former ONI officer; at least for 5 years until he quit to join the UCAFs rear running force after a disaster with one of his operations cost the ONI dearly to slow the covenant, of course it was a great success but a heavy one at that. Dresden never forgave himself for his botch up, but he remained absolute that he wanted a less serious command. Not to mention, Dresden was an information and intelligence officer and a smart mouth shooter/assassin when he needed to be.

"Finally managed to get to lieutenant colonel huh?" He asked the young officer.

"It's been my lifelong ambition to end up a back runner, then again, it keeps me from committing further screw ups, so I can't say it's all bad." He replied as he finally faced Acker.

"Where's the Commander of 11th Assault?" He inquired aptly.

"He's over in the mess with his unit, he didn't intend to come along, or for that matter me or the other officers. We don't do politics." Dresden informed him.

"Sadly we don't have a choice, or for you, you don't have a say. Politics can get messy, but if we're going to survive, I say we need to make a few ties, not heavy ones, but things that'll work for us in the future, if need be." He stated clearly.

"Very well, I'll be there sir." The officer replied with an apt salute.

Andrea asked him as they walked out.  
>"Do you think it's a good idea to bring along Dresden? He hasn't been the most forthcoming person when it comes to public image, especially if this is going public. And even by my standard he's been left on the ship for a reason."<p>

"And that reason was quote "...because he's unable to perform primary command, he's an unstable element and does not need to be reintegrated into military command for said reasons, individual in his own words has heavy concerns over future scenarios and does not intend to participate." I heard the reports Captain, I know Dresden. I was there when he botched up on Callistan and under estimated the enemy's skill in slip-space tactics and got half the colony wiped out and the rest rendered lifeless." He stated stoically.

"Do you think it's smart to put him to use again?" She asked with serious concern.

"It's smarter than what's going to happen if we don't put him to use." He replied.

They hurried back up a level and arrived in the mess hall, it was pretty much empty aside from 12 men sitting at one table, all in full armour. He knew that this was 11th Assault. He strode with Andrea to the table when the men tapped their glasses.  
>"To the Talith 3rd, we fought we saw and we died with full honours."<p>

"Blood and Honour!" They all chanted.

"Do you mind if I interrupt Commander?" Acker asked the decorated officer in ADST gear.

"Acker, I've forgotten that you were promoted. How's command of the Tyrant been?" The black and grey armoured solider with grey hair asked.

"Fine, but I do recall that I sent you a message a couple of days back about joining us to meet with our guests." He reminded the commander.

"That, I had drill to run sir, my apologies if I couldn't make the trip." He replied insincerely.

"Commander, I understand that you've been through the things I've been through but we do have another appointment to be made." He explained to the commander.

"You mean those Xeno shits we have to go see? Ava, fuck me, I've told it to command and to everyone else I've had to see, I don't do public service announcements or public spectacles, not since Callistan." He protested.

"And you should know better than to ignore orders Commander, I understand that you and your boys would like some time to celebrate your unit's death nearly 10 years ago, but I've got some news for you. GET THE FUCK SOBER AND JOIN ME AT THE AIRLOCK!" He amplified his modulator.

"AGH…" The men gripped their heads.

"Ava, fucking hell, was that even necessary?" Brian asked.

"Yes, because I do recall that your one day late for that celebration and I have no time to spare with insubordination." He replied studiously.

"Fine, we'll be there sir." Brian replied adjusting his ear buffers.

Andrea had her ears primed for anything so she ignored most of the noise, as they departed the mess hall she asked.  
>"I know you liked that." She remarked.<p>

"A little, those pissed bastards have a hell of a tolerance for liquor, but that doesn't mean that their ears are any better. We need them to look presentable, and capable, the council doesn't know how many members of the command staff there are and I intend to make them look intimidating and existent." He replied.

"Hmm, intimidate the council; I think that'll work well." She thought aloud.

They got back up to the primary hangar and from there they walked the rest of the way up the stairs to the main airlock, there Acker counted all members. There was Major Autumn's unit; Jay had gotten his small rabble of marines looking like proper guards. Brian had his team with him; Dresden had only himself with a 'matchstick' cigarette.

Major Hunter and his team was present, they were wearing fully polished armour, and had their ceremonial bayonets on their modified AR-45s, the rifles had a wooden looking polymer stock and the barrels had gold lining, the guns themselves were platinum painted to look like ceremonial rifles, they still could drop an elite in full zealot armour. The Major himself had a short cape that flowed behind him with medals pinned over all of it, it looked impressive, and it was, Hunter had a number of commendations and still remained a major for some odd reason.

Colonel Shawn was here as well, his tank team was behind him, they had all worn their own formal armour; the plated light armoured suits were decorated as well, Shawn had a badge that was about the size of his palm that was on his left shoulder, he had a dozen medals on his chest, and one officer's pauldron which hid a mini shield booster. There were also his tank goggles which were sitting on his head with his khaki beret.

The council members were busy studying all of the UCAF members present, of course this still wasn't the total UCAF command compliment, and there was still another 4 commanders and numerous lower ranking officers in the ship. They were just elsewhere for the time being.  
>Shepard arrived with her team, Anderson and Hackett as well, they all looked around surprised at the UCAF officers and troops there, they were honestly were baffled at how many were present.<p>

"Are they all coming along as well?" Shepard asked Acker.

"Yes they are, these are almost half of the command staff and less than half of the lower ranking officers present, and I intend to make an impression with all members of the UCAF I can bring along. The council doesn't know how much strength the UCAF has, so I'll make them think twice about trying to do anything while I had fellow officers with me." He informed the commander.

"The only impression that you're going to give is one very determined human force that has decided to invade council space, and I'm pretty sure that might scare the council reps a whole deal much, we've already got our hands full with human supremacy in the galaxy I don't think we need to make ourselves look like fascists." Shepard replied unappeased.

"Well then they'll have to get used to their new neighbours, we didn't come here to make friends we came here to do a job, and by Ava, we'll do that job from beginning to end. There's no compromise of a greater relationship with the UCAF, and we came here without one, so don't expect us to bow down to any given regulations that the council demands of us." He stated subjectively.

"Well at least we know that this is going to be fun." Garrus muttered.

There was still one member that the command staff was waiting for, Sienna was supposed to be arriving soon.  
>Sienna went over the line to inform them of the time.<br>"Docking in 10 minute please stand away from the checker lines."

"Sienna where are you?" Acker asked over his com line.

"I'm right here." She startled the colonel and everyone else.

Sienna had a body, not the holographic one, but a fully flesh like body, there was of course the fact that her skin seemed to glow with radiance and electronics, and the fact that she had an arm that was encased with holographic tools.  
>"I've never had a chance to go off ship before Colonel; I must say this is a first for me."<p>

"Well everyone needs to try something some time." He replied cheerily to the AI.

"W-what, where did she come from?" Valern asked.

"Sienna has a dozen shells required for manual labour in case there's no one available or present to help her. Also she does have her own wardrobe and room on the ship, she's part of it." He informed the turian councillor as he stuttered.

"Great so now we have her tagging along in a body, oh boy." Tali deadpanned.

"I heard that you know." Sienna shot an annoyed look at her.

"Why did you not inform us that you would be bringing a synthetic onto the Citadel?" Tevos asked.

"It didn't seem necessary at the time, and besides Sienna was part of the crew, it was never a given to single out members of the UCAF." He replied.

"This makes things a lot more interesting." Shepard stated.

"Who's running the ship then?" Ashley asked.

"We have more than one AI on the ship you know." Another disembodied voice informed them.

A young man in casual clothes had a book in his hand.  
>"I'm Dylan, the secondary AI of the Tyrant, I usually run the scientific department of the ship, and also the primary servers on the ship, I've been keeping close tabs on all things that happen. And Sienna brought me to speed when Colonel Acker decided to bring Sienna along for the trip."<p>

"So there's more AI, how many of these things do you have?" Tali asked hysterically.

"A lot more than you'd like…" He replied somewhat mumbling.

"Okay, can we bring our focus back to the fact that we're currently trying to dock?" Sienna replied.

There was a burst of communication over the com channel.  
>"This is Citadel traffic control, unidentified vessel you are approaching the Citadel, you must identify and state registration before clearance."<p>

"Give me the channel." Tevos said.

The councillor replied. "This is the Council we're aboard the unidentified ship, we informed you of our arrival. Clearance code for myself, register under Tevos. May the Goddess Decide her Will, and Guide us with Grace and Clarity."

It took a moment before the tower responded.  
>"Acknowledged Councillor Tevos, we have you cleared; please head for the commercial area docks near the public ring, there's no place to dock such a large vessel."<p>

The line closed and they felt the ship change course.  
>"Sir I think this might be a slight squeeze." Dylan explained as he guided the ship.<p>

"Understood Dylan, we'll be sure to watch out step." He replied to the AI.

"Docking in 1 minute please be careful of the slight turbulence we will endure as we dock." Dylan stated over the coms.

On the Citadel the various inhabitants watched the massive ship approaching from above, its massive shape shadowing seconds of the Citadel, it was a damn impressive sight to say the least, it was bigger than the Destiny Ascension and looked just as intimidating. People did have concerns over the large vessel, but if the council fleet was blowing it to pieces with their guns then it had to be friendly.

Meanwhile a number of reporters and media rushed over to the site where the ship was supposed to be landing, a number of civilians were also going along in flocks to see what was going on. As they all hurried over to the docks they were stopped at the commercial docks by dock security, it was technically private property.

But that didn't stop the press from rushing ahead and other people pushing through, there weren't many security guards in the first place. As they all hurried over to see the docking site, C-sec arrived on the scene to make sure that the council got out without a hitch, the council races had been expecting new arrivals but they were vaguely informed of who these arrivals would be.

XXXXX

The members of the UCAF stood forwards first, they had to present themselves before the council, and it would make them look professional and respective towards the councillors. It was just another façade to hide behind the real agenda of this arrival at the Citadel. As they heard the doors clamping down onto the docks, the ramp extended and the light inside turned green.

"Please watch your step." Dylan automated.

The doors opened up and Major Hunter's unit of marines stepped out in twos and followed the ramp downwards, the reporters took holo-pics at the whole guard amazed at the armour and weapons that they were equipped with. And then came the council itself, they stepped down professionally and calmly looking as if they had been in good hands.

There were calls from the crowd as they arrived to meet them, but they had their attention direct again as more people stepped out, Shepard's ragtag band of races stepped out to meet everyone who seemingly gleamed at the sight of the hero and her team of mixed races, Anderson and Hackett were least recognised behind the commander. It was a sure sight only shrouded by the UCAF.

Acker stepped out with Sienna and Andrea in tow, his marines were behind him following in a neat order, of course none of them liked formal occasions but that didn't mean they didn't know how to act in one. Acker was followed by Dresden who was quiet and concealed behind the marines, and then came the plethora of other members of the UCAF.

Major Autumn in his full armour made people wince at the sight of the Helldiver covered in red and black with actual skulls of his enemies, his fellow warriors looked just as intimidating as the last, having a variety of armour types and decorations to add to the sight. It was apparent that they were the least approachable types of people that the press wanted to meet.

The armour Colonel strode forwards with his team in tow, they looked like the most professional aside from Major Hunters Marines. And then came the ADST, Commander Brian was in full armour with his helmet on, he didn't want people to see his face and surely neither did his marines, they all just looked like they were guards.

Once the procession had headed to the spot where C-sec was busy preparing shuttles for them to board, Hunter's unit regrouped in lines and followed after them. The press tried to get in closer. Acker and his command staff were busy ignoring most of the calls of attention from the people.  
>"So this is what it feels like to be a celebrity huh? I'd prefer being a lowly grunt." Brian muttered through his com link.<p>

"Be grateful they ain't asking you to sign of contract deals to sell your soul." Jay remarked.

"Yeah, well I sold my soul as soon as I joined the war." He replied.

"True that, I wonder if we'll ever get our souls back." Jay stated.

"You'll get your souls back… when you're dead." Dresden casually panned.

There was a short silence before they began to board shuttles arriving from the Citadel Tower. They could only fit about a dozen per shuttle so it'd take about 4 shuttles or so to get them all aboard and on their way to the tower. The trip wasn't a long one, but the number of times they had to wait for a shuttle really annoyed the UCAF.  
>"Why the fuck didn't we just use an Aires Gunship? I mean we could fit everyone onto one of the gunships and get here in half the time." Jay asked dispassionately at the logic behind using public shuttles.<p>

"We didn't have time to go back for the damn things, and it didn't look as intimidating if we all just flew in and started the meeting without anyone seeing us." Acker replied with a shrug.

"Great public image, the one thing I really love about this place." Jay stated sarcastically.

The shuttles arrived at the tower, there they had a few people watching in anticipation, there were people trying to get a better look and only a few reporters inside, it was of course the fact that the council didn't want public attention drawn into any serious decisions about the council and the UCAF, these things were of course only a need to know basis. Only the representatives were to know more than the media and the people things had to be tightly knit.

They took a breather before they began to council's session. But for the UCAF, this was a perfect time to speak with people, and the first person to speak to was a man in rather formal looking attire with a pair of glasses.  
>"Greetings, my contractor would like to send his regards, he leaves you this message." The man said to Acker before handing him a white envelope.<p>

"And who is you-." Acker looked back up to see that the man was already walking away.

Shepard arrived to see what was going on.  
>"Who was that?"<p>

"I don't know, but this letter." There was a diamond within a diamond, one black and one orange.

The colonel looked at the letter but decided not to open it yet; he turned back to Shepard and said.  
>"I'll inform you of what the letter might be, but for now let's get back to the council."<p>

Shepard eyed the colonel suspiciously but nodded, they turned back to the main chambers of the council, there they lined across the chamber with chairs and sat down, and Acker saw the three members on the other end preparing their speeches. He directed himself to the podium ahead that reached over a dais.

"Let us begin this session of the council. May we greet our new arrivals from the UCAF, Colonel Acker of the 81st recon and recovery, he shall be the primary representative of the UCAF and all actions decided upon by the UCAF now in our galaxy. He and his fellow officers, and comrades have come from another galaxy or suspected dimension, or so his report states…" Tevos began.

There was a dull murmur from above on the balcony where members were watching eagerly over the whole introduction.  
>"Acker, our primary agenda is the crisis that has arrived from 'your' universe, the Covenant. This alien force of religious zealots who have determined that the only course of action is to pillage sites of ancient technological significance, and use them to their own ends; they have declared humanity a scourge upon the galaxy and are at war with the humans of the UCAF. Their drive to take this technology by any means threatens the safety and security of the galaxy; do you believe that there is no way that the council can approach the covenant aside from force?"<p>

Acker knew instantly that the council would think diplomatically, even when they saw the massacre that unfolded upon Epping. He thought what other decision the council was going to make.  
>"No there's no doubt in my mind that they'll stop at all, the covenant are determined and even with their schism within their ranks, the covenant by majority will continue to fight the UCAF and anyone who attempts to impose on their belief."<p>

"And what of alternatives?" Valern asked.

"What sort of alternatives?" Acker replied.

"Allowing the covenant to have what they want." Valern stated.

The whole chamber went into silence, Shepard on the other hand was about to throw the book at the councillor, he couldn't have been serious. The human reps weren't happy about the thought either.

"Then they'll subjugate the galaxy and wipe out the HSA and any allies they have and set their forces on you to fight the UCAF, which I'd like to inform you that would be the worst thing you could do." Acker warned.

"But of course, I only asked out of curiosity colonel." Valern replied.

"Do you believe that you even have a chance?" Maelon asked.  
>"Yes, do you believe you have the ability to win against such odds, you yourself said that the UCAF had been in this war for about 25 years and yet not once have you been able to make a significant change, can you win this if it becomes war?" Valern added demandingly.<p>

There was a lot of tension in the air, their eyes were parked exactly on Acker who looked back and remained stoic thinking about how to approach this.

Acker had a feeling that this was going to be rather hefty debate, but he had summarised his options:

[UCAF] We can handle the covenant, but if you so much as try to backstab us, you'll regret it…

[HSA] The UCAF will deal with any present threat from the covenant, but I'd like to give credit to the many lives lost trying to help, give these people recognition for what they've done.

[Council] The strength lies within all races, you should try to consolidate them to unify and then you can hold your own against the covenant raids, we will handle the heavier battles.

Paragon Action: All races have a stake in this and all have a reason to fight, the threat not only from the covenant, but also the geth that you fight right now. Give the UCAF the chance to fight and prove that you are under no serious threat, and then decide what you should do. There's still a lot more to be done before the covenant become more than a threat.

Renegade Action: Have you faced the covenant and their armies and survived to see another day? Millions bathe in the blood of their enemies every day in the UCAF and we have to prove to you that we know how to fight them? We are ready to die, and regardless of whether or not you intend to help, we will win. And then we'll leave you with the knowledge that you could have done more than sit on your asses and twiddle your thumbs up them while we fight.

(Well this is going to get interesting, the major players are making their moves on the UCAF, and you can decide how this plays out. Also you can add your own guys, just write in the reviews or PM me and tell me what you want to add.)

XXXXX

(Okay Decision Time: This one's going to be rather interesting…)

All of you who played ME3, there's things called war credits/points/requisition, I've decided upon a similar system. For now you have to decide upon choices to do things that will affect the story differently, these decisions will give you points to add to your future, such as upgrades, tool, weapons, requisition points, and support.

You can gain credits from missions that will become available in the story and I'll write them as they come, decisions will ultimately decide the outcome, medical boxes, ammo crates and such shall appear regularly in missions and also artefacts and events.

Medical Boxes- 5pts

Ammo Crates- 5pts

Salvage- 10pts

Probes- 15pts

Minerals- 10pts 1000 credits (Mined minerals don't count, they're added to ship inventory)

I'll be adding essentially an in story game, sort of.

[Upgrades- these are permanent] [Shepard's team upgrades]

1-[Enhanced Sensor Net] Allows ground team to detect possible approaching enemies, it can be upgraded with requisition points.

(Level 1)[10pts] Full Sensor Sweep, closer range hostiles using jammers can be detected, 10-25 meters

(Level 2)[20pts] Direct Sensor Sweep, medium to close range hostiles are now detectable even if using jammers. Also grants ultra-sonic detector which enables a substitute to activating a flashlight in dark spaces.

(Level 3)[30pts] Proximity Sensor Sweep enables the ability to detect hostiles using cloaking tech at close range, 10-25 meters.

(Max Level 4)[40pts] Diffusion Sensor Sweep, ion particles emissions create a means of detecting cloaked enemies over a large area, 25-50 meters. This upgrade grants, VIDR (Visual Identification and Data Retrieval), allows a full tactical view of enemies moving in between distances and grants the ability to visually identify by outlining hostiles, hidden or otherwise.

2-[Armour Augmentations] Grants better armour to all team members, upgrades for all members are available, but will cost in credits, purchases made from Requestions Officer.

(Level 1)[10pts] Energised Ablative Armour Plating, provided by the UCAF, you can now purchase plating that will ensure that your team mates will survive extensive battles against common enemies, plating will augment current armour.

(Level 2)[20pts] Energised Diffusion Armour, the UCAF has granted you higher level upgrades to Ablative Armour, this armour upgrade will protect against chemical, frost, and any biological attacks, provides low immunity to EMPs.

(Level 3)[30pts] Valance Adamantium Armour heavily bonded reinforced armour with ablative coating designed to withstand extensive damage, honeycomb structures hold the suit against AP rounds and explosives, reducing explosive impact by 40% and penetration factors by 40%, it can hold back extensive enemy fire before collapsing.

(Max Level 4)[50pts] Fusion Class Armour, UCAF designed armour made with a micro-fusion generator, capable of adapting to heavy combat, the suit was the lightest made and the strongest, no stronger than ODST/ADST armour, the suits can be put under extensive enemy fire and withstand 50% total damage factor, buffer impacts from explosions.

Fusion armour also includes EM shielding, suit cannot suffer from EM damage or EM pulses. The suit also has internal exoskeleton designed to lift heavier weights, you can carry heavy weapons with regular equipment.

Any smaller upgrades will become available at any given time please check the Requisitions Officer for further armour adaptations, and please send messages to me or write in the reviews of what you'd like to be added for inventory.

(Ship Upgrades)

Engine Upgrades- (Just some ideas)

(Level 1)[20pts] Hydrogen Fuel Injectors and Afterburners- Upgrade Normandy engines to burn Hydrogen Fuel Cells, injectors allow Afterburners for quicker intersystem travel on fuel.

(Level 2)[40pts] Hydrogen Infuser- Grants accelerated speed for inter system travel, under stealth and in atmospheric condition. Also augments energy supplements in case of emergency.

Weapons Upgrades-

Primary Weapon

(Level 1)[25pts] Mass Driver- Fire a single 10 inch tungsten slug at 40% the speed of light from the Normandy, rate of fire 1 shot 5 seconds.

(Level 2)[45pts] Dual Mass Driver- Fire two 10 inch tungsten slugs at 40% the speed of light from the Normandy, rate of fire increased to 2 shots 5 seconds.

Secondary Weapons System-

CIWS

(Level 1)[20pts] Gauss Turrets- emplaces 2 light gauss turrets onto either side of the Normandy to provide close support and rapid reaction to any incoming fire, both are hidden emplacements on the ship and can be used in any situation, does not cost the ship credits or resources.

Guardian Laser Defences

(Level 1)[70pts] The Guardian Lasers have an enhanced focus from the UCAF; the turrets fire 20% faster and take less energy to fire, draw back drains energy during heavy combat, but retain the turrets from overheating.

Missile Pods/Torpedoes

(Level 1)[40pts] Hellfire Missile Pods- in space or on planets, the missile system fires a heavy volley of 40 missiles each pod, two missile pods, one on each wing, fires a total of 80 missiles, each carrying a 105mm ion charge, can cause significant damage to land based vehicles and structures. EM fields make them effective against the covenant.

Drawback- the missiles cost credits by the number, total cost for all missiles count to 4000 credits total

XXXXX

Well that's all I can add for now, contact me if you've got anything more to add, I've been up for nearly 2 days now, I need rest, see you guys around.


	11. Event 11

Event 11- Lighting the Road

XXXXX

(Renegade- Landslide motherfuckers- 12-3 Ouch for the paragon)

XXXXX

Acker never let his temper get to him, but he was going to make it very clear to the council about trying the UCAF on their ability to wage unrelenting war, if they wanted to cower from the reality he'd give them a pretty clear response.  
>"Have you faced the covenant and their armies and survived to see another day? Millions bathe in the blood of their enemies every day in the UCAF and we have to prove to you that we know how to fight them? We are ready to die, and regardless of whether or not you intend to help, we will win. And then we'll leave you with the knowledge that you could have done more than sit on your asses and stick your thumbs up them while we die. And if we lose at least we know that our sacrifices meant something to someone rather than just you. No matter what the UCAF has proven itself and for the council to back down and cower in the face of a challenge it's a pitiful sight!" He pressed aggressively.<p>

The council looked dumbstruck; they had never heard someone hit them with that one before, worse yet was that the people who were watching the spectacle unfold shouted in agreement, the various races agreed there was a lack of action.  
>"Act Now! Act Now! Act Now!" They chanted in anger.<p>

The council had to use the internal PA to silence the crowd.  
>"Very well, you raise a very good argument and a very understandable scenario, we shall consider your proposition, at the moment we cannot put forward such a notion until all galactic representatives and governments agree to such an aggressive stance to support the UCAF. Your cause is justified, but we must consider all options!" Tevos replied in haste.<p>

The council was trying to recompose themselves the UCAF had just smacked them with one hell of a problem, the cowardice of the council would reflect negatively on the various races especially since they all had a stake in this war. The covenant was a new and aggressive force one that would make the Krogan Rebellion look tame.

"It is understandable that we have been unable to act upon this new threat, but that is not without reason. The Terminus Systems have been active as of late, and with current reports it's highly likely that they'd react defensively to any militarisation upon the borders between the Terminus Systems and Council space!" Valern reasoned.

"And what? Have they anything to fear? They cannot launch a war over suspicions and unconfirmed reports, to do so would be outright stupid, if you have no intentions to attack then tell them so, if they don't listen that's their fault isn't it? What if they make their stupid mistake of attacking over nothing?" He retorted.

There was some murmur of doubt that the colonel was right, the Terminus Systems have proven to threaten but, in the history of the Terminus Systems they've never followed through with any of their threats, at least not any that have been directed at the council.

"That's somewhat true, but that does not mean that this move isn't any less likely to cause conflict with the Terminus Systems, the systems are overly reactive to any move the council makes. Thus our current situation." Tevos countered.

"So what? Does it take the courage of your colonies to defend themselves? The colonies that you have are on record are the most vulnerable, not to mention, the demands for better security have never improved in the past 200 years, and I've read through more than half of the colonies have been demanding for improved defences, either from their own military or by themselves. And from the reports in the past 200 years almost little attention has been paid to the needs of these colonies." He argued.

"How do you expect us to expand our militaries?" Valern asked angrily.

"Well that's why I have decided upon a proposal!" Acker replied adamantly.

This caught the council off guard; this didn't seem like the colonel, ever since their arrival, he'd been determined to hold off anything to do with disclosure of UCAF knowledge.  
>"The UCAF colonisation and expeditionary doctrine does not dictate against trading of non-critical value, such as material objects, and lower class upgrades meant for primary use in the colonies, thus I have decided to open an independent business."<p>

"Independent? That's absurd, what sort of lower technological upgrades can you provide that we cannot learn?" Maelon demanded.

"All sorts, firstly none of you know anything about stealth technology, even the most basic forms of stealth technology that we possess, you're still utilising a form of tech that's been around from earth's 21st century which isn't too great of an advantage. And then there's your 'armour', many of your hard suits are made from a mix of ceramic and flimsy alloys, hell I've gone through the compositions of suits and my engineer staff has agreed that there's no way those suits would survive sustained combat." He paused as he brought out the next topic.  
>"Your ships lack the necessary armour and firepower and have an infamous record of having overheating issues with their main guns, along with the serious energy consumption of GUARDIAN laser defences. The sheer scale of technologies that you possess has significant flaws that can be fixed by our own techs in shorter time. This isn't quantum dimensional physics we're talking about here, this is purely economics and technology, and most of the resources we need from you are pretty cheap to come upon, aside from your mining guilds charging over the average for the sake of it all."<p>

"What makes you think that our mining guilds have anything to do with the current economic backlash in the mining sector?" Maelon inquired.

Acker stood there at him with a face of disbelief.  
>"You're telling me that you haven't even bothered to clean up your mining sector or ever monitor interstellar trade of the mining sector between all races? And you're telling me that you think that everything is fine?" He panned.<p>

"Yes." Maelon replied.

"You have no idea that your mining sector in the Skyllian Verge has a number of issues regarding pirate attacks since the blitz?" He grilled.

Tevos responded to that inquiry.  
>"The Verge has been a constant problem for both the Council races and the Systems Alliance; of course we had planned to resolve this issue hopefully soon, however it has yet to have been resolved thanks to various corporations now competing in the Verge."<p>

"And you let them have free reign because it's easier isn't it?" He threw a condescending look at them.

They knew that he was right; the situation in the Verge hadn't entirely been resolved. Valern countered by trying to change back to the primary topic.  
>"Colonel what you suggest might as well bankrupt the council, we don't have such means to pay for such exuberant upgrades, even if we could it may take decades to pay off such a large scale upgrade, not to mention the number of upgrades you're suggesting would require us to mobilize a significant force of personnel. How would we justify conflict?"<p>

"Easy don't start a war and simply consolidate your resources and prepare, if the geth attack you'll have most of your ships ready to engage with our upgrades, that and having most of your ships circulating between the colonies and the primary systems would give you a strategic advantage as well as protect your worlds from attack. Rather than having to arrive a whole week later to learn everyone's dead." He replied aptly.

The council was at a crossroad, they hadn't been given such a situation before. Not to mention the sheer scale of mobilisation of the council forces, it may cost billions in credits to protect the colonies, but they knew just as well that their previous policies in protecting the various worlds had been utterly ineffective especially to slaver raids in the verge.

What Acker had set forwards was a logical thing, and with the covenant in their galaxy and the geth launching strikes on human colonies. Either they were going to lose the support of the human systems alliance first or the support of their own worlds as the geth pursues conflict around council space. Not to mention there was a fair few people watching the news, and if there was any sort of political or sociological reprisal it would come from the reformists on the Citadel and a number of politicians in various aspects of the council's own governments.

They decided to adjourn for the rest of the day.  
>"We will have to confer with the primary advisors and members of our own governments and ask them for their own observation, at this point there has been no decision as of yet to accept this, however please keep in mind that the council does care for the wellbeing of all member races and this decision shall be weighed upon as soon as possible." The council departed the chamber.<p>

Acker felt that his position as the UCAFs representative would be either lost or secured, the council was rather nervous from what he could tell, he was attacking their normally failing policy of intergalactic affairs and legislation and bringing them to face them openly, of course the council itself had the knowledge of the UCAFs own policies and knew that the UCAF was not peaceful. And if the council knew the depths of the other programs the UCAF launched such as Spartan Alpha, the Helldiver Legions, and the Rey Program they'd have enough to openly challenge the UCAF on humanitarian grounds.

But of course the council had yet to learn of how far the UCAF had gone, and Acker still had the cards in his favour, it only now required him and his marines to begin hunting down the covenant and hopefully getting the heck out of here soon. As he packed up he noticed that a lot of press had gathered in the lobby and it looked as if the whole Citadel was there to meet him and Shepard.

As they descended Shepard met with him.  
>"So, you think that the council will buy into this compromise for the UCAF to begin distributing technology to help the other races?" She asked.<p>

"Likely, though it's possible they'd try and compromise for the sake of their own pockets, but with the governments of the council races in the midst of this it's unlikely that they'll get away with much and Anderson got into contact with Alliance Command, they've backed him on the decision to allow for the alliance to support the UCAF in open trade of technology and diplomacy, they're hoping to join forces with you." She stated as they pushed their way through the condensed mass of people.

"Unlikely that I can provide the means to supporting the alliance, the UCAF has a policy on simply allowing anyone to join the UCAF, there's a waiting period, and if this was for you as a rep to join us in helping to destroy the covenant, well that's going to have to wait a while. You've got your own problems with the mission you've already been given. As for my own troops, I've got orders just to eliminate the covenant and return alive, I'll help so long as it helps me reach my goal, and maybe just to help." He offered.

Shepard threw a smirk in his direction.  
>"You honestly think that I would fall for the free help part?"<p>

"No, that was a joke, obviously there's a means to an end for me. As for now, it won't matter, you've got your priorities, and I've got mine, and mine demand of me to finish up the covenant and get home for my retirement." He replied aptly.

"I'm still amazed that you're retiring at such an age." She stated quizzically.

"Well being around the UCAF tends to do that to you, and if you know where I'm coming from, you'd agree, it's time for me to retire." He shrugged.

Their groups reached the transports and soon they were heading back to the ship. However the UCAF had unexpectedly garnered the attention of various intergalactic powers, some of which they'd rather have kept to themselves out of.

XXXXX

Omega- Afterlife

Aria practically swelled with the feeling of joy when she heard of the UCAF talking down the council so badly, this was a refreshing feeling rather than having to hear of more grovelling races bow to the whims of the council someone had the bloody quads to challenge the whole council's policy on the first day and make the council shit themselves.

Aria was definitely in the festive mood, but alas, the new power house was something of an anomaly and she didn't like being ill informed especially with new guests. This UCAF seemed rather brutalised and definitely more seasoned than that of any asari hit squad, if the reports were right then these humans weren't the push over ones that bowed to the council and were ready to go to war at any given moment.

This made Aria sort of cautious, if these humans were as blunt and open as they were with the council they'd be as sly and smart as well, this factored in a major issue, what would the UCAF do if they came to Omega? Omega was her and she had no one else oppose her right of control, or for that matter impose on her. But she doubted the UCAF would do such a thing, but with the offer of new technology now available for the council there was no telling how far the council would utilise this advantage.

The human alliance would obviously be demanding large scale mobilisation of their military to upgrade and the asari would be interested as well as the turians, the salarians would keep their sticky fingers on snagging anything they could find on the UCAF and the krogans would have a field day trying to get their hands on UCAF firepower.

Aria felt that the UCAF would play one hell of a crucial role in the galaxy, maybe even more so because of the war, not to mention the unexpected return of the geth and the new alien force called the covenant. Shepard was a ploy; she wasn't that much more than a captain doing what she did with her ship while being monitored at the same time, and she was bound still from going into the Terminus Systems even with Spectre status.

It was all bland to Aria, there were too many of these fools in such a galaxy, she had plans grand ones as well, maybe with the UCAF those dreams of power might come into play, one way or another. For now she sat down and took a sip from her asari wine.

XXXXX

The depths of a gas giant, a hulking figure watched the image of the council depart from their chambers to confer with each other, he knew that these idiots had no idea how much of the colonel had said was accurate and how they'd approach it would decide surely the fate of everything to come. Including the Reapers…

It was now a matter of time, and time was running out, for the council, Cerberus, humanity and the UCAF, the reapers were coming and in their stead these entities of the Covenant. This was truly a clash of titans, and only one may stand.

XXXXX

Acker stepped into his own room, the others had been seen off, either going to their own rooms or hanging around with their fellow troopers or officers, Shepard had stated her need to get back to the Normandy and ensure that the ship was prepared for the coming engagements, she had a dozen reports of incidents along the borders between the Terminus System and the Attican Traverse. There was also the reports of the missing ship with a manned named Garoth had requested to find his brother.

Shepard had her whole schedule packed with problems from everyone so she was going to be rather busy when she got the Normandy back. As for her crew many expressed their concerns of the coming conflict more with Tali concerned about the migrant fleet which had reportedly stated that 3 ships had gone missing in the Terminus Systems, she had asked Shepard to help, but under orders she was heavily restricted from moving beyond the Traverse.

Acker felt a favour was going his way pretty soon. He didn't mind a side track mission, though he'd send along just one corvette for this side mission, or even just a scout ship or FTL capable long range bomber, it was the same to him, the teams wouldn't have to do much hopefully. But the firepower with those teams would be useful.

Acker sat down on his room chair and pulled out that letter he received from the mysterious contact. He felt that this message was going to have a lasting effect on him, especially if things played out badly with the council. He hesitantly opened the envelope and pulled out a hard metal card and placed it in his hand, it was about 4 times thicker than the envelope and had markings.

"Press the centre once and leave on flat surface." He read.

He did so and placed the card onto his desk, the middle with the symbol of the diamond began to slightly glow. It finally came to life and began its message; it showed a rather well dressed man with a cigarette in between his fingers he smoked it rather slowly and began.  
>"Colonel Acker, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am representing the interests of people who believe that the human race should be independent and pure, as you might tell you may hear of my people, Cerberus, a pro-human faction within the alliance." There was a brief pause as the man strolled around. "However we were excommunicated after an incident some years earlier. But in light of that, we have made a significant return. And for our return the human race has changed, people see us as a threat to stability, and peace, but I want nothing more than peace, safety and security. Our race however is being besieged by foolish politician's intent of integrating humanity as one with other races when we stand alone. We are different and we have a right to be. And I want nothing more than to see humanity stand independent from those who so willingly ignore the needs of the people, the council has no love for humanity, they merely see us as a means to an end, and it makes me furious that we still stand with them, even when being so negligent."<p>

Acker could tell what this man was planning to suggest, he had his past experience with pro-human marines, and members within his own forces, and many usually saw the covenant as nothing less than what they considered humanity. It was a rather touchy subject of course, since the covenant began to splinter when the UCAF decimated them at the battle of the Apex, but still even with the help of rogue covenant factions, there was still plenty of hate.

The man began his last statement.  
>"Cerberus is willing to offer you support if you would in private meet with my associates on the 15th of March in the Tau Cluster, we'll hail you and you may bring your own security if you feel the need, however this is merely a discussion I wish to have with you. I'm sure your goals can be achieved with our help. By the way, please address me as The Illusive Man." The man smiled and the holographic message dissipated.<p>

Acker looked intently at the card; he felt that this sudden interest in the UCAFs intent within the galaxy had been recognised by possibly every major power house, which meant that he and the UCAF had to be damn careful. But this offer, The Illusive Man, this organisation that he led was something of interest, Acker noted down on his console to go see about this offer.

But for now he had other problems, the Council's decision was coming, and what followed from this would surely decide how much easier or harder it made his job, and probably the relations with the UCAF in the future. But he felt as if he was forgetting something.  
>A sudden burst over the coms into his room came to life.<br>"Sir I think we may have a problem."

XXXXX

Citadel- Wards- Chora's Den

Dresden and members of the recon guard that had accompanied the colonel had decided to take some shore leave, of course this wasn't the time or place, but they knew how to sneak out, and also the marines had slipped into their regular armour and attire, along with Dresden in full field gear rather than his armour.

They had entered into the wards via a small cargo lifter that Dresden hacked, they snuck through the commercial levels and into the wards and from there, and they just followed the signs for the best place to get a drink. Dresden needed some new alcohol in his system; he drank out his small supply of Keure Vodka.

Jay and his men were rather bored and had nothing better, and they were recon marines, they knew how to sneak out of the ship, but the one little problem for them was the fact that none of them looked that old, the genetic augmentations they received was enhanced regeneration which was supposed to make them heal in the aftermath of battles.

Of course having regenerative abilities meant that many had slightly younger looks, of course this augmentation was meant for marines and certain branches of the UCAF military. And also the UCAFs drinking age was around 16, not to mention the UCAF had little use for alcohol, at least not until the war, so alcohol tolerance for youths was rather high, considering many never drink heavy.

But that couldn't be said for the UCAFs military, for the team of 5 plus Dresden, Jay and only one other were older than 18. So seeing a group of teens strolling in military gear and fatigues was rather an odd sight for people, Dresden was rather on edge, and Jay's squad kept eyeing every alien that walked by.

When they got to Chora's Den, it was as if they had stepped into a light show with girls and rather crappy music. The neon lighting was not doing wonders for the marine's eyes. That said Jay cracked a joke about how this bar was worse, worse than the ones on the Caleden University bar, and anyone who went there would know.

As they worked their way to a few seats in the front of the bar ahead of a group of other males, 4 turians and a couple of humans, the turians exclaimed.  
>"Hey those were our seats."<p>

"What these seats? We didn't see your names on them." Jay replied.

"Yeah, and what makes you think we let you have them?" One human stated.

"How about your split faced boyfriend?" Dresden cracked.

"Oh you little." On turian was about to jump out on them.

The bar was suddenly watching the display of bravado being flashed in the bar. It was like the usual standoff just that there were more fists and drunken brawling rather than threats and the odd feeling of guns about to go off. The turians didn't back down, but instead the lead turian decided to flash out a pistol and threaten.  
>"You've got 3 seconds kids, you beat it or we drop you."<p>

(Time to decide…)

[Paragon] "Draw that gun and you won't make it further than that door…"

[Paragon] Kick the gun out and disarm him.

[Renegade] "Draw that gun and we'll drop you before you could even pull the trigger."

[Renegade] Punch the sucker and drop him.

[UCAF REP] "We've just arrived, I'm sure the council won't be pleased with you threatening a delegacy."

Option 1: "Come on and try it asshole…"

Option 2: "Care to explain what the hell you think you're doing?"

Option 3: "C-sec will have your asses before you know it."

XXXXX

Elsewhere…

The arrival at the Migrant Fleet was a rather eventful one that was for sure, especially with so many aliens on alert watching the team from left and right, the quarians didn't like the UCAF or Aegis who was currently flying the ship. But nonetheless they had arrived at their destination sooner than expected.

The flotilla was granting them permission to dock when Lt Autumn came face to face with the captain of the Sorodo.  
>"Captain, I was looking for you."<p>

"Likewise Lieutenant, I'm sure you've prepared to disembark?" She asked.

"Of course, and per our agreement, I'll speak with your Enclave of what we intend to trade, and they'll decide, of course we'll probably not see each other again." He mumbled the last bit.

"Then good, but there's one thing the cyborg girl cannot leave, I'm damn sure that the Rayya's security team wouldn't permit such being stepping onto the most crucial vessel in our fleet." Dar'ea warned.

"Let them try, Aegis is part of my crew and she's damn important in providing information we need, and she's also the bargaining chip. So unless your admiralty would like to discuss this aboard your ship or not at all, they'll allow her." He replied.

Dar'ea looked at him as if he was mad.  
>"You're one to push the limits of the admiralty that's for sure." She stated before letting him on his way.<p>

He thought about her and decided to deal with the problems as they came along, at the moment, Aegis and the admiralty of the Quarian race and then see what they want in exchange for his crew's safety or departure, they are of course cut off from their command and they haven't a clue if support was anywhere nearby.

Autumn found Aegis being disconnected from the ship she had packed up most of her linking gear and was waiting for the team engineer Jen to finish checking on her. Jen of course wasn't really an engineer, but she was permitted by Aegis because she was female, and of course Aegis, was rather open minded about males and females.

"So how's she doing?" He asked.

"She's fine, I've checked her ammo count though, and she's on her last 4 barrels." Jen replied.

"Well we can't help it; we'll conserve ammunition for a while, Aegis, you and Jen will have to accompany me while Hartman recovers with Ann. We've got a meeting to attend to and I don't want to waste much time, Hartman is of course going to need some serious cool down time before he's up and about again." He stated.

"Understood Sir, I'm prepared and ready to move." Aegis replied.

They got packed and out to the main hatch, there they met up with Erena who was rather unhappy with seeing Aegis, but a little unsure about Lt Autumn and Jen, she advised.  
>"I don't think it's a good idea to have brought your android along, she's not exactly people material."<p>

"I know, but she's the one with our black box and our intelligence so if she's lost we're blind and have no bargaining chip." He replied.

"We'll I'd keep her guns tucked away, the security teams been alerted and probably won't be very happy with her." She warned.

"What's the worse they could do?" He asked.

The doors opened and 2 dozen guards armed with rifles aimed them at Aegis, there were also a number of heavy weapons sitting around.  
>"Okay I take that back."<p>

"Hold it right there, you're not bringing that thing aboard!" A quarian officer stated angrily.

Autumn was in one hell of a situation.  
>(Another Decision to make…)<p>

[Paragon] "Aegis is part of my crew, now you back down..."

[Renegade] "The reason that she's not about to drop you all right now is because I haven't ordered her, yet…"

[UCAF REP] "I'm here as a representative, and she's part of my guard, now you lower your weapons before you start an intergalactic incident."

XXXXX

Sorry this chapter's a little shorter, but I've had some stuff planned ahead, I can only hope that you guys make your votes soon, because I'm running short on time as it is, so please make your votes in the review section or by PM!


	12. Event 12

Event 12- Towards the Breach

XXXXX

(This one was mixed as hell, I've got mostly paragon action for number one, both trigger and actions meaning that whichever one has more numbers all other paragon actions are shifted to the higher number. Same with renegade, but this time less renegade much more UCAF rep… interesting twists)

So winning is, trigger paragon for No.1 and UCAF rep no.2, and yes I know I should tally this better, but people were vague on their votes so I had to make an educated guess on which ones were voting on what. There were also a few votes going to renegade but lost by 1 vote as they were tied with renegade for No2.

XXXXX

Paragon- [Kick out gun and disarm…]

Jay didn't hesitate, he had calculated the distance between him and the turian's arm, he jarred his leg faster than even the turian could register, and the gun went flying as his leg made contact with his hand. The gun did go off, sending patrons ducking, and the group jumping in surprise, by then Jay and his team had drawn guns and were no aiming their M5Ds and M6As at the group.

"I think you should carefully decide your next move before we send you to a hospital." Jay deadpanned.

The turian and human group nodded without a word, and bolted out of the bar as fast as their legs could carry them. Jay and his boys got back to the bartender who was looking around in amazement at the teens.  
>"Jeez, no one's done that to Karic's boys and got out unscathed before."<p>

"Well we're not from around here, so what's on the tab?" Dresden asked intently putting his pistol back in his holster while getting out a cigarette.

The bartender, shrugged.  
>"Anything on the menu I guess, heck you saved me a lot of trouble, Karic's played hell on the bar for a long time, thanks to you I might have more time to myself and the patrons." The barman said happily.<p>

Dresden was mildly grinning and then looked at the menu, so did the others.  
>"Okay, so we've agreed, we'll take your best on Terra Onyx blend with Saffron Lilac and Tyr Dew."<p>

"Wow, that's some heavy stuff, are you sure you boys can handle that sort of alcohol?" The barman asked.

"Sure, we've seen shitholes worse than the wrong end of a covenant scarab, what could a drink dish out?" Dresden asked nonchalantly.

The barman shrugged and brought out the drinks they ordered, Dresden picked out his own which was the Onyx Terra, he seemed interested in the black liquor and got himself a cup and skulled (drinking slang) it down like he had strolled through a desert. He shrugged and then said.  
>"Fine liquor, I wouldn't mind it as a substitute for my Vodka, but still the taste of Keure won't be the same without it."<p>

While the others got their drinks, Jay was planning to stay the most sober out of the group, he did know that the C-sec department would be coming down to investigate the incident shortly. But before then, the barman had the Citadel News Network on a holo-display for them and it was screening the recent set of events.  
>"There have been further reports of the newly discovered UCAF maybe planning a joint operation with the council concerning the incident at Epping, the humans from this alternate universe state they intend to fight regardless if the council accepts. But with current public polls of the current council, the sudden appearance and events maybe working against them, the council is being pushed to act much more aggressively and decisively as possible and has gained the attention of their representative governments to speak out as well. But regardless, these turning events have made the council cautious to bide their time in acting."<p>

The barman sighed.  
>"Looks like more lively times to come."<p>

"Ain't that the truth?" Jay asked.

"So what's with the UCAF?" The barman asked.

"Not much, just killing things and probably looking cool while doing so, they're probably wondering what's going to happen, hell they're probably drinking in some bar and asking something like it to some guy." Jay replied.

It was then that the C-sec arrived and opened the doors to check for the incident.  
>"What's happened here?" An asari asked.<p>

"You want the long story? Or the short one?" Jay asked as he swivelled around on his chair.

"Hey I know you, the council damn made sure to keep an eye out, aren't you the members of the UCAF?" The asari perplexed.

"Yeah that's us." Dresden replied.

The bar was filled with eyes now wandering over to the young men at the bar. The asari sighed and then said to them.  
>"I'm going to need a statement." She activated her omni tool to get the report up.<p>

XXXXX

Acker sat back on his chair as he read through the incident report, he wasn't surprised. Dresden and the members of the recon squad were always looking for time to go ashore, they got their wish, but again they started a fight. This was nothing new to him; he had plenty of recorded incidents with Jay and his men when they got off time on shore.

They'd be reprimanded of course, as per UCAF protocol it had to be done, as well as the council rather annoyed at what UCAF marines were doing inside an establishment during such a critical time, he responded with a bland response stating that he'd deal with it. The council had been stuck inside the tower arguing over the planned assistance of the UCAF, what they'd give to the council should the UCAF assist.

Of course they weren't all so happy Valern was adamantly firm on opposing the UCAFs conditions as purely a show of strength and intended to call the UCAF out on its bluff if need be. But Valern was no fool he knew the UCAF had valid reasons. The councillor had pride in the turian military providing the majority of security within council space for over a millennium; he wasn't planning on giving up so easily.

There was also an undercurrent of an agenda that Acker suspected the council had, the constant need to look over the UCAFs shoulder was beginning to make him wonder how trustworthy having a joint task force would be. The council would just as likely take a chance at gathering as much intelligence on the UCAF and its technology so they could utilize it against their enemies and possibly the UCAF, of course there was a safety net in place, and Acker wasn't willing to turn such a blind eye.

XXXXX

Quarian Flotilla-

[UCAF REP- 7 votes- win!]

Autumn barked at them.  
>"Hold on I'm here as a representative, and she's part of my guard, now you lower your weapons before you start an intergalactic incident." He said as he strode in front of her defensively.<p>

The quarian marines were startled by this action, but their officer in charge took the Lieutenant on his challenge and came face to face with him. Autumn was right in front of the quarian officer's face plate, he stared into his eyes and stood firm before grunting.

"Stand down." The officer ordered as he stood back from Autumn. He added angrily.  
>"Your machine does anything aboard this ship that even hints ill intent and we'll space you and your team out the nearest airlock."<p>

Autumn noticed Jen looking as if she could rip through the quarian for the threat; Jen was not someone people usually crossed with or for that matter even made any insults directly at her or her fellow team members. Of course this was a little bit about her pride in her team; she had been with Autumn since they began as a unit.

Autumn felt for the woman, he knew when to take action though and making a scene at an airlock would not work in his favour or the favour of the others, especially since Aegis was involved in his plan. He knew that the quarians seemed to have an aggressive attitude towards machines at the least. He knew that they probably grew up technophobic of sentient machines, like how ancient humans always had this belief machines would wipe them out for some ridiculous single minded reason.

As they entered through the crowded airlock, Dar'ea guided them through the crowded depths of the ship, the quarian and the alliance elite marines being scrutinized by every quarian on the way to the Conclave of the Admiralty. As they reached the garden outside of the hall, Autumn noticed the lighting had changed, as well as the people.

In the gardens he noticed a fair amount of plant life and space. The gardens in front of the conclave's antechamber, there Dar'ea showed them into the hall where the conclave was gathered. The interior was dimly lit of warm deep amber and orange lights, Aegis looked over the lights and sent over. "These lights are fairly old; it is likely they will die soon enough."

"Don't worry about it Aegis, we're here anyway. By the way, focus on not making the aliens any more fearful of your presence; unless they decide to ask for trouble." He told the cyborg shock trooper jokingly.

As they entered the interior of the hall they were met with mixed looks of disgust, anger and a bit of curiosity both to Aegis and Autumn's team, he knew it was too much to expect these technophobes to be at least passive in their attitude and body language, but he doubted it would have helped much.

Jen was doing her usual thing and scanned the area for potential threats and potential opportunities to escape; she was a tact person usually in that regard, making her trustworthy enough to have at his side for this meeting. As the admiralty board gathered, Autumn got a good look of the top dogs of the quarian people.

Two female figures, 3 male figures, he could feel their eyes glancing between him and Aegis, they were the most apparent people here in the room, Jen could easily be passed off as a regular marine with no political knowledge or understanding. He on the other hand was smart enough to know what to look for in people.

The meeting began with the female admiral who stood on a podium above the other admirals, she began reverently. "We are grateful for reaching this age, may the ancestors watch over us, and our children, and for the next to come keelah se'lai…" All within the hall responded with 'keelah se'lai' and the admiral continued. "This assembly of the admiralty board is now in session. I shall introduce myself, I am Admiral Shala'Raan, before me are, Admiral Rael'Zorah, Admiral Daro'Xen, Admiral Han'Gerrel, and Admiral Zaal'Koris. May Lieutenant Autumn stand forward?"

The eyes of the assembly landed on the 3 UCAF members standing behind a rail of sorts, Autumn saw that they were going to grill him for information on what he knew. If anything he was sure they planned to use him to their own end, at least one of them would. He stood forward, with an air of confidence and passive strength.

"I am Lieutenant Autumn." He began directly.

The seasoned admiral eyed him carefully from behind her masked face and asked. "You say you represent a faction called the UCAF?"

"Yes, that is the organisation and government I work for." He responded directly.

There were a few murmurs around the room; he could tell something was going on. "What does it matter that I'm part of the UCAF?" He asked the admirals.

A dirty white suited admiral, which he identified as Han'Gerrel, who had a slightly gruff voice responded. "You have no idea what's been going on at this very moment?"

"Not a clue." Autumn replied honestly with a shrug.

"At this very moment in time, there was an incident at a council controlled world called Epping, this happened a few days ago, but a battle broke out between the council and a mysterious alien race which appeared from the gate, they called themselves the Covenant." Raan explained.

Autumn's ears perked but he didn't respond, he eyed them with a bit more caution and felt them try to get a visible response but he remained passive. He replied. "My people have indeed fought the covenant if you are curious, and also stopped them from killing your people who unfortunately boarded my ship in search of salvage."

"Yes it was quite a mishap, but it seems your enemy has come into this galaxy, or universe, whichever suit's you. The council is in a state of emergency, but it is not the only thing that came through, shortly after their arrival, another force intervened in the conflict, they called themselves the UCAF." Admiral Raan replied tersely.

This bit of information got Autumn's attention, inside his head he knew that the ONI probably alerted the UCAF government to this whole mess, it wasn't like it could be ignored indefinitely. He took in the words and decided to play along. "It seems we're at odds here, but if you're telling me a UCAF fleet was dispatched here then it would be appropriate that I and my team get into contact with the fleet."

"We will, but something still eludes us." Raan said carefully.

Gerrel took over. "Your vessel was found in a debris field which had wrecks of dozens of vessels some of which were covenant and yours, but what is most puzzling is the fact that your fellow humans haven't mentioned anything about other ships ever arriving." Gerrel stated clearly.

"The UCAF ONI, the office of naval intelligence had us on special assignment, as to why we are here, that's a bit more complicated, and it involves a lot of quantum physics and dimensional ripping. To make it simple, we were sent there by accident, as for what we intend to do, well I need to report to my superiors. And the UCAF are here, which means the officer in charge of that fleet will need to speak to me, I'm sure he'd be thankful for rescuing me and my team." Autumn replied gracefully. He was trying to avoid poking into his mission and the ONI's intentions when they sent him out.

The admirals seemed intrigued, Raan seemed to note his aversion to telling them about what kind of organisation the ONI was, but they couldn't prod any further as Korris inquired. "Would they be as gracious to provide us any sort of compensation for damage to the quarian salvage team's vessel? Or for that maybe something to aid the flotilla in general…"

He knew where the admiral was trying to take this discussion. "The UCAF cannot provide direct military or technological support, not without the consensus of the UCAF council and the senate, as for compensation we may be able to come up with a suitable exchange. But I do require direct communications with the commander of the UCAF fleet."

The other admirals around Korris seemed to throw a couple of looks at him from around, but they didn't say anything, they were all going to try somehow gain something from this whole mess, Korris went straight in, and Autumn more or less was willing to honour it. They spoke through their coms on private channels. After a minute of silence they agreed to some sort of compromise. "Very well, we shall allow you to speak on a direct communications buoy, would you prefer we reconvene once you've spoken to your commander?"

(Vote time for Autumn's team… this should be ending the arc between Autumn and the Quarians by next chapter to allow them to join up with the UCAF forces under Acker's command.)

[I'll take the chance to call now.]

[No I think it's better if we reconvene once I've checked with the UCAF.]

[There's nothing else you'd like to enquire about?]

Questions:  
>[Aren't you going to inquire about Aegis?]<br>[I'd like to ask one thing before hand, but how did a quarian salvage team find a UCAF derelict vessel?]  
>[I have a feeling you're not telling me and my team something.]<p>

(More or less this isn't that critical, but I was running short on time, so my apologies.)

XXXXX

Location: Serpent Nebula, Citadel, UCAF 'Against All Tyrants'

24 hours later…

Acker felt as if he was going to punch something, the council had finally made a decision, however the rather obvious conditions were glaringly problematic, the council wanted to fully oversee the process of ship augmentation and construction. Not to mention they wanted to put tariffs on a lot of the ships that are to be upgraded.

The Normandy would have to pay nearly 3 times as much for a normal repair on the Tyrant or any other UCAF repair ship, or upgrade station than at an alliance shipyard. This along with a constant monitoring of UCAF workings was more than what the other officers Acker had under his command wanted. This seemed ridiculous, the council couldn't expect the UCAF even a rep to accept such cut and dry politics, and economics of a new nation which had appeared before them.

Acker had no intention on allowing such a thing, he'd damn well fight them for this for a whole week if he could, but the fact remained, there might not be enough time within a week to do such a thing. The covenant running amok out in this galaxy was enough of a problem, not to mention the report he just received from the UCAF fleet which had replaced the recovery force.

The covenant would be sending ahead another force, this time it was more than just a scout fleet, it was a damn convoy fleet. Info provided indicated a strike force which was guarding, Salvation Class Carriers, the covenant's equivalent to a colony ship. It was a massive vessel which held hundreds of thousands of covenant colonists to new worlds with machines and equipment to terra-form.

He knew that meant the scout fleet had secured a world which would soon become a covenant staging ground or base for a further push into this galaxy. He'd be damned if they managed to gain a foothold here, there was enough problems for the UCAF to deal with, and allowing the covenant to fortify themselves here would mean trouble in the future.

But there was another thing which had been included in the report from HIGH COM; the UCAF had received intel that the one who was leading the covenant here was a prophet, the Prophet of Apathy, the bastard himself was coming here with what was estimated to be tens of millions of covenant followers.

If the report was true then this was a new crusade, a crusade to claim this galaxy. What was worse was that he learnt of the elite commander's name, Grand Master Leios Motocere, the leader of the Blood Sworn Legionaries, the elite force which forced a bloody tear across the western edge of UCAF space and killed hundreds of millions.

However the crusade launched by the zealot was eventually undermined by the UCAFs special tactical force, the Crossbone Division, a suicidal contingent of marines who were selected to sabotage and raid covenant ships and outposts behind enemy lines. They were essentially pirates who worked as part of the UCAF Navy and Spec Ops.

The last time Leios was seen was during the battle on 'The Dawn of Absolution', a revenant class super carrier which was set to assault the UCAF colony sector of Avitus Senti, the elite was supposedly left for dead by the commander of the pirate force called the Jolly Rogers. But it seemed that Leios had narrowly survived death.

But what reason this elite had for launching such a massive crusade force inside such a galaxy was beyond Acker, it didn't entirely add up. There had to be something of significant value that the elite of such a force would even consider leaving the main ranks of the covenant and begin searching into other universes. Not to mention drag a prophet into this mess.

Maybe it was his old soldier's intuition coming back to egg him, but he knew that his soldier's intuition had saved his life more times than he could count, including got Commander Shepard on his side. Leios planned to launch a holy war here in this galaxy, that was clear, but to what he was truly after was the key to stopping him.

Acker would have to consult an advent on this when he could, but in the meantime he had to prepare a response to the council's restrictions and policies, once he returned to the stage, it was going to be a free for all. There was also the gravity of the UCAF's decision to form an alliance with the council; in all honesty Acker had suggested such an alliance may be quite counter-productive right to the UCAF senate.

The UCAF had yet to respond to his advice, but they had listened, which was as much as he was going to get for the moment. There was building tension on the other side, since the UCAF was mounting for a major push beyond the old boundary where the covenant was once forced to fight through; it was going to be a long and bloody campaign.

As for any support coming, that was to be determined later today. He received a short communique from the UCAF fleet which had replaced Vance's fleet; there the fleet had granted him spare forces to bolster his own for the long haul. He was sort of disappointed that the captain could not remain to help him; the captain was a good man, and one who's been at his side for years.

He'd review the UCAF requisitions list later, he checked the clock on the wall of his room and determined it was time to get going, the councillors needed another good hammering, and he was going to deliver it, he strode from his room in full uniform once more, he called his team up with 4 marines as security, this was going to be a short trip to the council.

15 minutes later…

Upon arriving at the council's tower once more he found himself in the midst of more press and a lot more politicians, it seemed after their initial interaction the whole of council space was in a rush to meet the UCAF. He and his retinue had to push through a couple of people to get to the interior of the chamber.

Upon arriving he found himself standing amongst half of the presidium from what he remembered when he and the others first came to see the council, the council seemed to have representatives everywhere, this time it seemed a lot more like an open discussion between all member races of the council, including the sub governments and organisations amongst each race.

Everyone cleared the way for the UCAF to meet with the councillors, as he and the command team finally stepped over to the dais the councillors greeted them. "It is time to convene once more, may all non-representative persons exit the council chamber." Tevos stated.

The chamber was quickly emptied, only a portion of those who had been present remained, but most of the attention was directly between the council and the UCAF, Acker had his work cut out for him, well actually political problems weren't entirely his forte, why he was still debating this with the council was only due to a technicality.

As the councillors gathered their notes, Acker noticed a few more human observers were up on the balcony level of the chamber, he had a feeling many were here to see him try whipping the council again over their intergalactic policies, and bias against humans. He might appease them, but only if it was needed.

"This meeting of the council is in session." Tevos announced tersely trying to avoid a lengthy reintroduction. She paused for a moment or two for the other councillors to set themselves. "Colonel Acker, the council has reviewed over your proposal, and we have decided to allow you under the approval of your government to proceed with these upgrades, however we would permit this under a set of conditions."

Once Tevos finished, Acker watched Valern give off the faintest smug grin under his usual passive aggressive demeanour. He knew that turian would be privy about smacking around the UCAF over these conditions; of course he wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him. He needed to close the gap between securing the UCAF's position in the galaxy, how to approach this would depend on him.

(Ok vote time, this is the last time we'll be dealing with the council for this section, after this is should mostly be between Shepard and other members of the UCAF. Mainly Autumn, and a couple of other teams.)

Options:

[UCAF REP] "Upon reviewing the council's conditions and policies on UCAF matters I find it unacceptable, as we are a third party, we have no ties to the council and we have no need to abide by the council's conditions, the reason we have proposed this is to soften economic impact. But also ensure the council be able to defend itself when our enemies come to attack."

[Compromise] "We will only accept part of these conditions, we will not accept any further than 3, as the UCAF will not allow Council observers on UCAF ships or allow council observers to gleam sensitive material and knowledge."

[Paragon] "The UCAF is independent; we have no requirement to uphold any of these conditions. We do not wish to see harm on council colonies be it if they are alien or human, but we will not go against our people's own orders and regulations, you need to find a better way. And then we'll talk."

[Renegade] "Of all the greatest most idiotic things you do, this is probably the worst of them, you've pretty much infringed on all UCAF standing policies to non-aligned nations. What is it with you? Are there not enough problems with the galaxy? Is the need to place the burden of your own failings on us going to help those whose lives are now under threat from the covenant, or is it the little fact you don't give a damn about the general public?

(Have fun…)

XXXXX

Shepard had seen the Colonel off as he headed to meet with the council once more, she still couldn't imagine what the council had been thinking when they had rushed the UCAF officer with the policies, and conditions. Acker was outright furious when he went by her, and she did feel a bit pissed at the situation herself, but it didn't last very long, she was feeling timid.

Being stuck with the UCAF crew had shown her that they had a mild laid back attitude on the whole situation, they trusted their colonel to do as he needed. Like her own crew and team trusted her to do what she needed to do, it was strange seeing a parallel, was it universal or something else that had both of them trusted so much?

Shepard broke from her thoughts as the AWOLs got back from their little trip with C-sec, the group had been held for a quick statement on what had happened down at Chora's Den, she wasn't honestly surprised that the group was let off so easily. It was probably going to be a public relations hiccup on this, but nonetheless the marines had stirred people's attention away from the council.

She watched the group meet with the other troops, the ADST troopers crossed over congratulating them on their little foray; she wondered if they did this regularly. It was then the sight of a blue suited turian caught her attention. "What was the human saying? Boys will be boys?" Garrus said thoughtfully with a chuckle.

"Unless those boys happen to be child soldiers armed with assault rifles and military training." Shepard replied with a soft sigh.

The two of them got going to the Normandy, the ship upgrades were pretty much done, it was soon to polish off and get after Saren again, she'd have to leave the colonel on his own with the council, by tomorrow the UCAF would either be still stuck with red tape by the council or going to fight with the covenant and probably lend her a squad or two of marines.

Of course Tali wouldn't be too happy with having a couple of those UCAF technical officers around, they looked more machine than human. And from what she had learnt about their technical upgrades when they rank up they get more machine-like. She did know that the UCAF was planning on going after the covenant ASAP, but they had to figure out where to begin searching.

A few rumours were going about between the UCAF marines about where their next deployment was going to be. One of them said they were going to try and get something called and 'Advent' to go search for more ancient alien technology with some sort of all powerful psychic wave. It was hard to imagine a being that powerful, but it was the UCAF.

The other rumours were a squadron of scout fighters were going to search near the portal to hopefully trace a jump point and attempt to find the covenant fleet. The last one and probably the weirdest one was a marine was going to strap himself with a subspace beacon and jump into the UCAF's FTL portal and swim after the covenant fleet just to track it.

She didn't know if they were joking or if they were serious, as she laughed but they gave her confused looks. She honestly couldn't imagine who'd want to strap a beacon and jump into the endless realms of slip-space, just to track an enemy fleet. It sounded like suicide from how vast slip-space was.

She left the topic alone and got to thinking of her own troubles, the report from Saren being on Feros and the trail of him leading to Noveria, she had initially gone after the report about Noveria, but she was side tracked by a few assignments. There was still a couple of other things she had to deal with, the pirate raiders in Artemis Tau and one mission on an excavation site which had gone silent.

At best Saren was her main goal, but doing these assignments helped with covering the expenses of her gear and her team's gear, and maybe the one or two small splurges she might have had while she was on the Citadel, her bank called her on her spending. She knew she had a weakness for spending on things like assault rifles, sniper rifles, and a couple more grenades.

Garrus was at least thankful for the new sniper, and Tali were happy with the new Omni tool upgrades. Liara might be a bit pickier about getting clothes which she hardly ever used outside of her office. Well then there was the ferocious appetite that Wrex had, she couldn't believe how much grilled varren he eats when everyone's having dinner.

Joker cracked one about Wrex eating more than he could chew, which was disquietly ended when Wrex took it like a challenge and took a whopping size of a whole steak and laughed in Joker's face. Shepard could tell things were going to get back to normal once they got the Normandy back to the field.

The new upgrades were coming along pretty well, but she was still undecided on the UCAF's offer for the free weapon add-ons. Joker was fine with it, as long as he didn't lose his seat. Garrus was happy to calibrate new guns and weapons on the ship when the time came. Tali was also interested and wanted to take the upgrades for her pilgrimage but Shepard said she'd have to ask the UCAF about doing so.

As she and Garrus got back to the Normandy's hangar, there was a massive tarp covering the whole ship, and they found the whole crew waiting outside of the airlock. Shepard could see a lot of them staring at the airlock of the ship, she strode over and asked. "What's going on?"

Joker popped through the crowd and greeted her with a happy. "The ship's ready to be unveiled."

Shepard eyed him, why did they cover up the ship for? It wasn't like they remade the whole ship in a few days, right?

XXXXX

UCAF Requisitions Form: Intermediate A-234-122

Due to the extreme circumstances you currently face the UCAF is willing to give emergency support. On this form you have a list of all forces presently at the gateway, you may requisition a few of the forces presented, however once they have been sent you may not be able to requisition other forces any time afterwards. Any further inquiries on the function of force requisitions during a campaign, please refer to the UCAF Military Model: EC-344-123

On when another requisition of troops may occur may take up to [3 months] if not earlier or later, due to the circumstances anything is possible, when forces come available for requisition, your requisitions officer will alert you.

List Provided: -3 choices (choose wisely)

(AN: To cut down time on choices I've decided to compress much of the forces available, sorry for lacking in detail, but having too much said about one faction of the UCAF military would be a serious headache. Also those who'd like OCs added into any of these factions I will put them in after the forces have been selected.)

Military Forces:

[Helldivers]  
>Being the forefront of the UCAF since the creation of the ICA, the Helldivers have served as part of the elite forces for over 300 years and have proven effective against the insurmountable odds of hostile opposition. The UCAF has freed an entire battalion of these elite shock troopers to aid you, they will arrive with only one UCAF Assault Frigate "Absolute Night", and whatever military personnel on the ship is at your disposal.<p>

Helldivers 42nd Legion, 3rd Division 2nd Battalion [Liberators Legion] –Specialized in planetary assaults, industrial, urban, rural  
>Helldivers 33rd Legion, 9th Division 7th Battalion [Cerberus Legion] –Specialized in long range missions, suicidal, CQC, anti-infantry, anti-armour<br>Helldivers 122nd Legion, 5th Division 4th Battalion [Whitetail Legion] –Specialized in search and destroy, recon, forest terrains

[Marines]  
>The Marines have been the backbone of the UCAF and UNSC; the marines are a symbol of the UCAFs unified strength against hostile forces, such as the covenant. The UCAFs strength lies in the dedication of these soldiers on their duty to protect human lives from all sorts of threats. The UCAF has freed an entire division of 15,000 marines to come to your aid. They will arrive on the UCAF troop carrier, "Big Ben".<p>

Marines 82nd Legion, 2nd Division [Everest Hunter Marines] –Specialized in forest, urban, recon  
>Marines 15th Legion, 4th Division [Death Guard Marines] –Specialized in urban, city, planetary assault, attrition, CQC<br>Marines 34th Legion, 6th Division [Amber Hawk Marines] –Specialized in aerial assault, mountainous terrain, atmospheric warfare  
>Marines 7th Legion, 3rd Division [Titan Watch Marines] –Specialised in combined armour and infantry assaults, technical support and ballistics, heavy armour and shield force<p>

Speciality:

Within the UCAF there are specialised forces usually secluded within their own ranks, aside from mixed ethnicities of certain forces, like the Marauders, the UCAF has access to many various forces which would like to join you.  
>(There are too many to name and explain in detail so I decided to just give a rough explanation. A few here are inspired by a few games and ideas, but the concept is something I've been trying to change.)<p>

Fenrisson Marines- 4th Division, 2nd Regiment [Bleeding Fangs]  
>Summary: The Fenrissons are obviously by their name from a world called Fenris, however as odd as their name sounds, the Fenrissons are a well-known warrior race. For thousands of years the Fenrissons have endured the harsh environment of their forest world, and adapted. Their people used to be tribal until 7830 years ago, encountering the early Venri and Shion Empires.<p>

Using the advanced metallurgy skills of those empires the Fenrissons advanced their military skills and became terrifyingly strong within hand weaponry, from claws to swords, the clans of Fenris have earned their place in the UCAF as warriors of face to face warfare.

Biology: To summarise the Fenrisson biology, the people of Fenris are massive, growing in heights from 9ft to 18ft, they are near giants by the standards of the UCAF. Most of their youth is spent honing their physical and mental skills to battle and team work, thus many have immaculate muscles, and exceptional stamina.

Clan: The Bleeding Fangs- the Bleeding Fangs are part of a larger military clan which dedicates themselves to warfare, mainly offensive, they wear MKVIII Pattern: Blood Scar. They utilise wolves which use similar variations of their own armour. Their weapons are engraved with ceremonial markings and patterns like other clans. They also have been known to use firearms.

Crossbone Division: Outside of UCAF control, the paramilitary pirate force is well versed in causing utter mayhem on enemy forces, mainly raiding enemy facilities and bombing enemy controlled worlds, they are the perfect hit and run force. They utilise a multi-racial force which allows them to strike out against enemies with various abilities.

Force: Aurelian Raiders, 8th task force, The Red Scars  
>Leader: Captain Julian Huntsman Aka 'The Red Scar', 1st Mate Arren Maric<p>

Aegis Strike Force: The Aegis force is a female only force; they are an elite group of specialists who utilise various strategies in infiltration, subversion, assassination and espionage. They are usually used to infiltrate covenant positions as members of certain covenant species; they at times though use direct force to break into covenant facilities, only during insertion missions.

Overall force: Classified, due to sensitivity of information on personnel involved in the Aegis force.

Requests: [3 choices]

Out of the current situation surrounding your predicament, the UCAF HIGH COM has also authorised personnel of unique standing to join the support forces, your reputation as well as situation has garnered some fairly well known individual UCAF members to offer their services to aid you.

Adept- Tempest Order: Theon Valence: Age: Unknown  
>Theon of the Tempest Order of the Adepts has offered his services, little is known about the combat psychic aside from his extensive combat record on both the Daedalus and Everest campaigns. It is suspected he may be older than 14,000 years due to his position as a Tempest, unconfirmed report.<p>

Adept- Vanguard Order: Valia Solanve: Age: 13,344  
>Valia is a female member of the Vanguard Order of the Adepts; she is an excellent navigator and has greater knowledge in medicine and quantum dimensional tangents, she is a younger member of the Vanguards, but her ability to enhance slip-space travel makes her a great addition. Her power is limited however to a handful of ships at one time.<p>

Advent- Revenant Order: Elias Hexon: Age: Unknown  
>Elias joined the UCAF to protect the eastern colonies during the initial start of the Daedalus Crusades launched by the covenant; he volunteered to join the UCAF forces which were initially sent to deal with the main covenant force when he was redirected to the portal. He offers his aid. Caution is advised as Revenant's are infamous for collateral damage to both covenant and UCAF personnel.<p>

UCAF Medical:  
>Name: Alex Duffrane<br>Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer, Hospital Corpsman  
>Age: 42<br>Bio: Alex is a seasoned medical officer who joined the UCAF during the start of the war; he is a 'grim' mannered officer due to his years in service not to mention countless actions during the war. He has greater skill than most UCAF medical professionals and has plenty to offer to your crew. He did volunteer, but has requested for position as an advisor.

UCAF Technical:  
>Name: Anderson Hyu<br>Rank: Gunnery Sargent  
>Age: 21<p>

Bio: Anderson was selected due to his specialty dealing with covenant technology and skills in advanced engineering [Military Grade] he specialises in advanced armour technology, he will be a valuable engineer for advancing tanks and various light to heavy armoured vehicles.

UCAF Mechanised:  
>Name: William H Brown<br>Rank: Sargent Major  
>Age: 23<p>

Bio: William is a stoic, cold hearted bastard, from what his last officer wrote on his profile, the UCAF selected him from the Death Guard 39th Mechanised to aid in combat during the war on the Solivan campaign. He successfully eliminated the entire covenant within 3 cities and helped during the final push of the campaign, but he endangered countless civilians and UCAF personnel, which has given him some notoriety. Precautions must be taken when deploying William to any battle field.

UCAF Navy:  
>Name: Samuel Greer<br>Rank: Petty Officer First Class  
>Age: 25<br>Bio: Samuel is a skilled officer and has served as a UCAF Tier One Division specialist in his time, he is a senior Spec Ops Naval Warfare Officer, and he has been awarded various medals and commendations for his 9 years in Spec Ops. He has served against the covenant doing missions behind enemy lines to sabotage and guerrilla warfare. He has offered his services to you.

UCAF Air Force:  
>Name: Joshua Thurston, aka Hawk of Deion<br>Rank: Master Sargent, UCAF 33rd Antion Falcon Squadron  
>Age: 22<br>Bio: Joshua is a veteran of half a dozen campaigns against the covenant, he has earned a reputation as a skilled fighter pilot, and kills from him alone total 748. He has been shot down 3 times. He has offered his services to your fleet.

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Codex: Adepts, Advents- Orders

The Adepts have variations within their own orders; mainly those who become of age leave behind their childish demeanour or have developed with a specific attitude to reach these specific branches of the Adepts. As the Adepts reach senior ages, they develop specific capabilities attuned to their attitude, skills, and power.

Before ascending to Advents, an adept has the option of specialising within a specific area, mainly between excelling within the use of their quantum abilities, combat, healing, or simply intelligence the options are presented within these orders. There is also a variation of this available to the Advents however it is more uniform.

There is an age setting for each specific generation, Adepts would usually become part of an order once they reach the age of 13-14 thousand years of age, for an advent it is a choice mainly decided upon individual Advents, however those who were previously part of an order in their Adept age would join the parallel Order in their Advent age.

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AN: It's been so long since I got back to work, also please make a choice on the three options, I'd like to see what people would think is a good idea for a force. And also adding to this I have been away mostly thanks to sickness, and a certain issue last month which left me without any internet for a month. So I'll be catching up with writing for the next few weeks with as much as I can provide, but no promises. It's good to be back.

I have changed quite a bit in the past few months of this year trying to keep up with the work load. I got some good news though, I recently joined the Drowtales community, and with such a long history of comics and such an interesting concept of fantasy I couldn't help myself. I subscribed, you'd probably see me some time during the Daydream section of the community chatting with people.

I have been planning also a Drowtales fanfiction section on but I'm not sure when I should move ahead with the idea. And also a bit of support would help.

For all of you out there, story ideas are still available, I can sort through them if you want me to, and also I have been planning on creating a community based area for my fiction, for voting polls and such, to lessen the load on filling the review section with votes.

Also if you haven't figured it out, Aegis is Aigis from Persona 3, she looks nearly the same, aside from being in full body suit.


	13. Event 13

Event 13- Into the Night

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(Ok thanks for all the votes and it's good to be back.)

Votes are in:

Paragon Wins by 6

Renegade 1

UCAF Rep 2

Autumn's Action: Cancelled due to lack of votes.

Also there was only 1 vote for the whole thing, and the other one wasn't properly counter, because it was too vague.

[UCAF Requisition]

This wasn't very specific due to only one person specifying what force of the Helldiver's they wanted, same with the marines.

Helldiver's 122nd Legion, 5th Division 4th Battalion [Whitetail Legion] 3 votes

Marines 15th Legion, 4th Division [Death Guard Marines] 4 votes

Fenrisson Marines- 4th Division, 2nd Regiment [Bleeding Fangs] 1 vote

Independent Personnel (You could have chosen 3 of them, since they aren't part of any major force.)

Adept- Tempest Order: Theon Valence 2 votes

Adept- Vanguard Order: Valia Solanve 1 vote

Advent- Revenant Order: Elias Hexon 1 vote

(AN: Oh by the way I am retconning the names, from this point onwards the names will be going by the official ones from the Mass Effect Wiki, I couldn't be bothered with it till now, and also because I don't want people harassing me about it later. I had a few people tell me off about that so I'm moving ahead with changing the names of the councillors.)

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Location: Quarian Flotilla, Rayya

Autumn decided to inquire about their motivations of Aegis.  
>"Since coming here, I've noticed open hostility to synthetics; however you haven't said anything about my fellow squad mate Aegis here. I'm sure your ship's officer reported her directly to you when she came aboard hasn't he?"<p>

Raan answered his inquiry. "Captain Kar'Danna vas Rayya, did indeed report your 'team mate's' arrival, however we decided that it wasn't prudent to cause a scene. We are still undetermined about your cybernetic ally, but you have already received a warning and we saw it as enough."

It made sense, he guessed. "On the matter of contacting the UCAF, I'll contact the alliance during recess." He stated.

"Very well, we will enter recess of one hour and reconvene, I'm sure that will allow you to contact your fellow officer on the Citadel." Raan said thoughtfully.

"Yes, an hour is enough." He agreed.

With that, they settled for a short break, with this in mind, Autumn would have the chance to speak with the admiral's separately in turn, while keeping his talk with whoever was in charge of the UCAF force to recover him and the rest of his team. Time was somewhat of essence as the UCAF needed to know of something truly tremendous here.

Once exiting the hall, Ann asked. "Do you think the UCAF would believe us about, you know…"

"Probably, but we'd have to get into contact with the Advent Order back on Reverence to confirm it, if the Apex is here as well, the UCAF needs to act. A war over this galaxy would be nothing if the Apex was to fall into Covenant hands." Autumn grimly replied.

As they found a secluded spot, Autumn began interfacing with the quarian's communications network, he found there was a few algorithms of data which linked back to the quarian's own communications system. They were trying to listen in on the conversation, he decided to disable the hidden programs and continue.

"This is Lieutenant Autumn UCAF spec ops 45th Vanguard corps, Serial Code: 344-290-233-ADDF, to UCAF Fleet, this is a request for assistance, priority one." He called over the line.

He knew that the UCAF fleet was probably small, but he had to try, once he got into contact with HIGH COM then that was all he needed, to get a message out to HIGH COM about the current situation. He waited as the subspace link took some time to locate the UCAF fleet stationed at the location the quarians had told him about.

He just hoped he didn't cut into anything important.

XXXXX

Location: Serpent Nebula- Citadel- Council Tower

Acker had felt like hitting the councillors in the face when he calmed himself and recomposed, he decided it was best to let the council simmer in their own failings, he had wasted enough time with them. The UCAF could and would not wait any longer for him to take action with the Covenant, and if he knew the Covenant right, it was just a matter of time before they made their next move.

He took a deep breath and faced the councillors; it was time to make his decision. [Paragon] "The UCAF is independent; we have no requirement to uphold any of these conditions. We do not wish to see harm on council colonies be it if they are alien or human, but we will not go against our people's own orders and regulations, you need to find a better way. And then we'll talk." He declared openly.

The council was definitely taken aback by this sudden decision; Acker had just decided to completely pull out his support for the council races? If so then this was certainly dire, the UCAFs withdrawal from the council sight would certainly cause problems and some of which would very likely garner a heavy negative view on the council itself.

Of course Acker was sick of this tail chasing, that was for sure, he couldn't waste any more time as it was and the with the Covenant soon to make its move he had to rally with his UCAF allies who were soon to arrive. He just hoped they were more open to suggestion; he was going to need their help with the situation here.

"The UCAF will not abide to any of your policies or regulations neither allow you to observe UCAF technology without our consent. The UCAF government and senate is behind me in this decision, if you cannot accept our terms and conditions we will not support you in this case, to that extent, we will remain as independent as we can, for those who wish to gain our help, we'll provide it. Nevertheless the UCAF has no affiliation with the Citadel Council." Acker stated with a stoic look.

The whole chamber was in a state of shock, the withdrawal of the UCAFs support in such a crisis was definitely going to be a public blow, but the Council was going to shoulder it a lot more than the UCAF. It seemed selfish in his mind, but it was necessary, the blatant red taping of the council was too costly and wouldn't have helped the situation with the Covenant.

Not to mention the feelings of the council to the UCAF, he knew they held the UCAF in some sense of contempt for allowing the expansion of the conflict of the war to their own galaxy. Of course this was something he was prepared for since the day he had stepped through that portal into this galaxy that if they did meet someone they'd probably blame the UCAF for the conflict.

As the council chamber erupted into talk amongst the reps and the politicians he could hear the people outside the chamber in just as much confusion and concern. The councillors took the news in stride, well attempted to. Sparatus found this fairly inconceivable.  
>"Colonel Acker, you cannot simply just drop any relations with the council on political grounds. That is outrageous!" He argued.<p>

"What is truly outrageous is how you've managed to keep yourselves in power whilst the rest of the galaxy suffered for your mistakes. How many more centuries do you think the council can keep this up? You've wasted your opportunity for our help, and if you are unwilling then so be it, we will not give your our help. You can help yourselves since you've done a fine job about it." He replied in turn.

"This meeting is not adjourned Colonel Acker, you haven't even given us a full explanation as to your decision to suddenly withdraw support." Tevos tried to grasp.

Acker looked at her with his cold weary eyes and gave her the explanation. "The UCAF government's decision was to continue neutral relations, until the current crisis is averted and the Covenant is routed, now because I can no longer expect to continue this farce of a communication between our people. We have decided to withdraw our aid. As the UCAF has vested the power within me, we will act in accordance to our orders, to seek and destroy the Covenant. We will intend to fulfil it without question, with or without your help."

There wasn't much else that needed to be said, the UCAF Officer stepped off from the dais with his first officer and their security detachment, and they left a council standing there in a bewildered situation. There was nothing else that needed to be said, what had been done was done, the UCAF would remove itself from the Citadel without any other course of action but to go it alone.

Acker had a feeling that this would somehow come back to hit him and the UCAF in the back one day. As he left the chamber, the eyes of all its occupants followed them out till they reached the steps of the chamber where they were soon swamped by the waiting mass of bodies all vying for answers.

He could tell that this was going to be the worst backlash for both the council and the UCAF, their image as being independent was good, but since they were not affiliating themselves with the council then that was it. No one would go near the UCAF fleet, once they leave, people will either believe the UCAF was abandoning the galaxy only to pursue their own goal.

In truth, it didn't matter to Acker or his men, the facts are simple, eliminating the Covenant and finally being able to retire peacefully. It was a better option than having to spend months and months with the council arguing over a damn trade agreement while the Covenant wreaked havoc across the galaxy.

As they stepped through the crowds they were barraged with ceaseless questions about what their next intentions were going to be. Acker didn't bother to answer their curiosity with a response, it was best that the situation just boil down steadily. Once the council recuperated from this little charade, then they'd probably come up with an excuse once more.

Whether or not the rest of the galaxy would really buy that kind of an excuse is really the question, there was no doubt that they'd have to clean up their own mess. If the council ever resolved it, then hopefully things would improve, or worsen. Acker reached the lifts and it was then that he received a call over his com.

"This is Acker, go ahead." He said as he entered into the lift.

Sienna stated. "Sir, we have a situation."

"What sort?" Acker asked.

Sienna sounded occupied as he could hear chatter in the background. She finally responded after a moment. "We've received a communications burst from a com buoy; it's from a UCAF Strike Team that went missing 5 months ago. It seems they're here in this galaxy, and their commanding officer has requested a direct channel with you."

"Which team are we talking about?" Acker inquired, he knew there were many UCAF strike forces with special operations commandos.

"It's the Seekers, 18th division; they're under the command of a Lieutenant Autumn from the Vanguard Corps of the Terian Moons. It seems he and his strike team survived, but they have an urgent message for HIGH COM, but require your authorisation to pass the message on." Sienna replied.

Acker was a little bit shocked, he knew of Autumn from the Eurian Campaign when the war was entering the 15th year, they were stationed there alongside his older brother Major Autumn who was currently aboard the ship. Of course that would have to wait. Acker immediately replied with. "Patch me through to him."

"Yes sir." Sienna replied as she connected them.

Once the connection was made, Acker began. "This is Colonel Graham Acker of the UCAF Task Force currently deployed under the order of the UCAF HIGH COM."

A rough but audible voice replied. The damn buoys were never good for these kinds of communications. "This is Lieutenant Jeremy Autumn, Seekers, 18th division, 11th company 2nd squad. It's good to hear you old friend."

Acker welcomed the voice of an old comrade in arms. "Good to hear you're alive as well Autumn, you're brother's going to be happy to hear you're still alive and kicking."

"Truth be told, I'd rather not let him know I'm still kicking, or else he'd throw me up against all of your best troops." Autumn chuckled.

"I know. So, how is it that you're here?" Acker asked curiously.

"Ah that, I don't know all the details, but from what Aegis gathered beforehand, she determined we were pushed out of slip-space during a skirmish with a battle group of Covenant ships, as for the reason why, that remains classified. I need to contact HIGH COM before I can release anything to you." Autumn replied simply.

Acker listened, but the part where Autumn mentioned 'Aegis' caught his attention. "A-Aegis? Wait you have Aegis on your team?"

Autumn was a bit hesitant about replying for obvious reasons; Aegis and Acker had a relationship before their deployment orders came through. Autumn decide to let Acker have some comfort that someone he had personal connection to was alive. "Aegis was assigned a few months prior to my mission, she's doing well. But Acker I do need to connect with HIGH COM, but I need a direct communications link."

Acker acknowledged, he'd have to find his old romance after getting Autumn back. "Do you need me to link you directly to HIGH COM now?" He asked.

"No that'd be a bad idea; this communications link isn't entirely secure, these Quarians have been keeping an eye on things on my end, we need to be extracted so I can give a direct report. But let HIGH COM know that I'm alive, and I have a Priority Beta class report to send in." Autumn said with a very serious tone.

Acker took a moment to absorb that fragment of info, if what Autumn has just told him was correct, then something was seriously wrong. He responded accordingly. "Right, I'll contact the HIGH COM and let them know. But I'll need to know where you are Autumn."

"I'm on the Quarian Migrant Fleet; you can lock on to my transponder signal now across this frequency and then track it down to where I am, but to put this simply. I think you'll need to work some sort of agreement with these Quarians. They seem to have an interest in the UCAF and will likely ask for something in return for helping me and my team." Autumn explained.

Acker had almost had his gut full of politics and debates, if this was going to get UCAF personnel out of there, then he'll be there. "I'll see what I can do, is there anything they've demanded?"

"Nothing, though I'm sure they're keeping their distance to avoid causing anything that might start a violent response from the UCAF against themselves." Autumn replied.

"Okay. When I've completed all I need to do here I'll take the 'Tyrant' ahead and meet you at the fleet, just inform them of our arrival before we get there." Acker finished.

"Will do, I'll tell them that, but don't take too long. I have a feeling we aren't entirely welcomed by these people." Autumn said before closing the line.

Sienna then asked. "Sir, should I contact the UCAF HIGH COM?"

Acker hated it when Sienna decided to listen in on coms between officers, but it did save himself some time. "Do so Sienna, and tell the Captain to begin full preparations for an immediate departure. We have an extraction to perform."

"Understood Colonel." Sienna said before heading off to complete the tasks.

Acker had a warm feeling, was it joy? He wasn't sure, but it sure felt like it, after so many years, he would finally be able to be with Aegis. He wondered if she had changed much like him since they had last seen each other. He hoped she was doing better than he was. As the lift finally reached the base of the Citadel Tower, the Colonel and his retinue headed off to board their gunship. There was much to do.

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Omega- Afterlife

Aria felt a mild sense of amazement; the council had finally done it, they had gone and driven away the one faction of another universe that was willing to aid it. There was the odd chance the UCAF would be willing to aid the council at another time and date, but for now, it was all in the air. The UCAF would leave and take a chunk of the council's reputation with them.

Of course this was like music to her ears; the UCAFs withdrawal meant the council would take a public blow to their image, one that might cause worlds along the Traverse to question their loyalties. Also the corporate mining sector was likely to take its own blow thanks to the bureaucracy of the council.

This meant there was likely to be more traders willing to take chances, more money flowing through Omega's smuggling rings, which was good for her. But whether or not this was particularly good for anyone else remained to be seen, the council might take action once things start really getting bad.

But that might be years away, if not decades if the council buried it all under more red tape. Aria gently lifted a cup of wine to her lips and sipped. 'A toast to the UCAF, may the alliance continue to bring fortune to me.' She thought humorously.

The beating of music continued on in the background as she lay back, these were truly volatile times, she admitted the UCAF had balls to take the council on its own turf. She would however enjoy the changes that were to come. It felt invigorating.

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Location: Serpent Nebula, Citadel, UCAF 'Against All Tyrants'

Shepard and her crew got an eye full of their ship; it was surely impressive sight, like when she first saw her at Arcturus Station. Before the crew, the Normandy laid itself flat out, but it looked a whole lot shinier. Its outer hull had been completely polished, but from what Shepard could see, the hull plating had changed colour.

Its original white and black was now a deep navy, which seemed to darken when looked at a different angle; it might have something to do with the upgrades Sienna made. There were also a few additional things that were visible. The engines had been altered to a point where they looked a lot more rectangular, and the addition of the hull also looking a bit boxier.

As the crew looked over the main body, they could see the alterations done to the bottom and top of the ship, the underside of the ship had become slightly larger, the structure had definitely undergone some serious upgrades. The top side of the ship had become a lot more elongated from its original design.

There was also a noticeable upgrade to weapons; the GARDIAN lasers had become a lot more agile in design and look, with additional point defence lasers on the outer hull, there was also a few missile pods added. It looked as if the ship was ready for action, now the real difference was likely to be the inside.

Shepard and her team with the senior officers gathered at the hull where Joker was waiting with Sienna. As they reached them, they were greeted by the AI. "Ah Commander, welcome to the Normandy, I've got all of the upgrades completed ahead of schedule." Sienna said happily grinning.

Shepard felt as if the AI had saved a few surprises for the crew inside. Shepard decided to ask. "So what's all of these external upgrades?"

Sienna replied by bringing up a holographic representation of the ship, each layer was indicated in red. "The armour has been upgraded to withstand more damage in battle; it is an ablative layer design to absorb super-heated blasts from Covenant warships. Though they wouldn't last long in a serious engagement, they'll buy you extra time to escape." She pointed to the outer hull.

"What's with the reflective armour though? It's nice and all but it looks strange from an angle." Kaiden inquired.

"That's the new stealth upgrade; the outer layer now has a functioning stealth screen, it's a colloid which absorbs light and disperses it across the outer layer of the ship when energised. It will likely keep people from seeing the Normandy at anywhere between 50 to 100 meters, it will leave a slight distortion, but it will be difficult to hit the ship visually." Sienna detailed with an example of the stealth coating active.

It was then Garrus's turn to ask. "What upgrades have you made to the weapons systems?"

Sienna brought up the weapons display and indicated the additions made by the AI to the weapons inventory. "The Normandy now features 6 missile pods of 24 missiles, all of which can be guided; each missile is a Type-46 Anti-ship guided missile. They are all plasma tipped and capable of burning through ship's hulls at staggering rates. They can also act as simple explosive type weapons to destroy enemy emplacements and vehicles. However, these missiles are fairly basic in design, and the UCAF has sealed off most of the more advanced components from being scanned. So please do not tamper with them."

"Ok, what are the upgrades to the laser emplacements?" Ashley asked.

Sienna replied as she brought up a diagram to the GARDIANs and explained. "The lasers themselves have been streamlined to be more agile, they can respond a lot faster than before, being able to fire 5 beams in continued succession before overheating. They can also fire scattered beams across a wide area to intercept incoming projectiles." She gave a holographic example.

"There is also the addition the smaller lasers can deal with any closer point defence work, and can act for close air support, they have a fine focus lens capable of hitting targets at far distances, however it can only be fired at a much slower rate." She indicated to the smaller defence lasers.

Once they got that squared away, the Commander asked. "What's with the increased hull?"

"Oh that. I've made some interior additions, mostly to help with crew space and cargo. You'll need it now since we've had to add the missile pods and extra equipment and facilities." Sienna replied.

Shepard nodded and then Sienna opened up the airlock for the crew, the AI indicated for them to follow her as the doors slid open to the forward section of the ship. Shepard went first, followed by Jeff and then the others. As soon as they stepped in, Jeff was awed by the greatest thing he had seen since the burger aboard the UCAF ship.

"Is that a fully leather chair with armchair reclining functions?" Jeff exclaimed as he got into the cockpit.

Shepard stifled a laugh and smiled as Jeff acted like an excited kid inside of a candy store. Sienna replied. "Affirmative, this is real leather; we had some left over in the cargo hold. The cushioning is all hydro-foam, a memory foam suited to the user, and the armchair recliner function is also tailored to your form Mr Moreau." Sienna said as the helmsman hit the recline function.

As the helmsman pushed it back up he said in joy. "I love this chair."

"Don't hog it Jeff." Shepard joked as she left the helmsman to enjoy his little slice of heaven.

As Shepard continued on with the rest of the crew to examine the alterations, they got to see a fair amount of changes. The ambient lighting had definitely improved and so was the space in the ship, though the consoles for the ship were lesser, it seemed that some functions had been turned into Meta programs to save space and energy.

As they reached the midsection of the ship they got to see what else had been changed, the conference room had been altered to suit the crew; there were now tables and additional consoles inside the room. And when they reached the lower deck they found themselves in a completely different looking level.

There was now an added room behind the sleeper pods, which served as a bathroom for both genders of the crew. And not that far away there was a crew quarters section for the personnel, and a couple of separate rooms for guests and one for Tali. The level also included a small kitchen, and a weights section. The medical bay was now next to a small science room; Liara liked the additional space for her work.

Beyond that the lower hold was where things had been altered substantially, upon entering the lower hold via the now faster lift, the crew could now see a totally different design, and the cargo hold had an extra room which ran above the engine room. Inside the new room was storage for all the extra equipment, including extra missiles for the pods and replacement parts for the lasers.

It seemed everything was altered in some way, including the lockers; the lockers had now become its own section, changing rooms above with weapon racks and work tables for the weapons, and a few new consoles. To the Mako, the rover had been moved to the middle where it was held in place by locking pins.

A new section was opened up for repairs for the Mako and any additional vehicles that might get added aboard from what Sienna had informed the Commander. When the crew gathered back to the CIC, they all chatted amongst themselves about how things seemed a lot roomier. Shepard had to admit it; the AI knew how to make a ship appeal to its crew.

"Well we gotta admit Sienna; the ship's looking pretty good." Shepard praised the AI as she admired the view of the galaxy map.

"Well it's the best I could do on such short time, besides we have our own problems to deal with now." Sienna said as she hummed something.

"What do you mean?" Shepard inquired.

The AI shimmered for a moment. "I have just received word that the UCAF is to withdraw its support for the council, so there really isn't any chance we will meet each other again, unless it's during combat. The Colonel has made his decision to simply cut ties with the council and begin to move ahead with simply hunting the Covenant." Sienna replied with a disappointed sigh.

Shepard was caught off guard by this news, it really happened? The UCAF was going to pull its aid and simply go at it on its own? Well this was a possible outcome, but for the council to do that, not to mention for the Colonel to approve of it, there was something seriously wrong. But then again, if Acker believe the council could not be trusted, then it was his choice.

The Commander ran through the whole thing, she was equally disappointed that the council handled this in the worst possible way. But of course this was the council of all things; they couldn't stick their heads out of their asses unless it was really an emergency. She then asked. "Where will you be going now?"

"I'm not sure. From what the Colonel has decided upon is to link up with the rest of the UCAF support forces, and gather information on the Covenant's whereabouts, and also recover a lost UCAF team which went missing a while ago. Aside from that, he will be making a majority of his own decisions, as for helping you, just give us a call on our frequency and I'll patch you through to Acker." Sienna said before departing.

"Thanks." Shepard said to the air. She stepped down and looked over the ship to begin their departure. She hoped that the UCAF force would be alright, but she had no doubt that Acker was a capable officer. She only hoped the council didn't do something stupid in the wake of all of this.

"All hands prepare for departure, we leave in an hour." Shepard announced over the intercom.

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Location: Quarian Migrant Fleet, Rayya

Following the end of communications, he was faced by Ann and Aegis. "So, what's the news?" Ann inquired.

Autumn replied. "Not bad, it seems an old friend of mine's around, he's coming with my older brother to retrieve us. He has sent a message ahead to HIGH COM about our situation. Once we deal with the quarians we will likely be heading out alongside Acker."

"Acker? Do you mean Graham Acker?" Aegis asked with a slightly curious tone.

"Yeah, he says he's coming to get us, and probably to get you." Autumn replied.

"I see." Aegis replied distantly.

Autumn could tell she was probably delving into her memories of her old crush; Acker was the one to take chances with very different women. He just hoped this wouldn't distract Aegis too much; there was still a fair amount to do. As Autumn finished going over the saved details of their conversation, he thought of something the Quarians might want in exchange for the service of aiding them.

He would have to deal with this once they finished their meeting with the admiralty board. It was then the chime for another session rung. Autumn took his team back to the chamber to see the admiralty board once more. Raan began again. "Recess has now ended; we may now resume our discussion."

Han Gerrel took the point. "Lieutenant Autumn, have you made contact with your government?"

"Yes, and they have acknowledged the situation, the UCAF Force which was at the Citadel is now on its way here. From what they told me, they are willing to compensate you on rescuing me and my team." Autumn replied.

"That is good to head Lieutenant." Gerrel said not as happily as Autumn might have imagined.

"Have you any preference what you'd like to exchange?" Autumn asked.

The admirals looked at each other for a moment and discussed it before telling Autumn. "We'd like an exchange of knowledge on the fundamentals of your AI technology."

Autumn saw what they were getting at. "That does sound like an interesting, exchange, but there's a small problem there, I and the commander in charge of the UCAF ship has no authority to disclose the knowledge of the Cyrillions or their AI, that is something beyond our control."

"Is that so?" Xen asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, I'm afraid the UCAF has no control over the little things such as that would have to go through proper channels between the UCAF government and the Cyrillions and their neighbours. And they'd likely turn you down." Autumn said as he shrugged.

"Very well how about a small vessel? Our fleet has been in dire need of ships. Especially new ones…" Korris suggested.

"We'll have to see admiral, but that is only going to happen when the ship gets here." Autumn stated.

"When will that be?" Raan asked.

"Likely within 2 days, as long as there are no delays." He replied.

The admirals weren't sure if having the humans and their cyborg counterpart was a reasonable idea, but there weren't any other options. "Very well, Lieutenant Autumn, you and your team will be confined to the Sodo till the arrival of your vessel, please do not depart. And as an assurance, Dar'ea Vas Sodo will act as our liaison till then." Raan announced.

Dar'ea was a bit surprised; she hadn't been involved, aside from the few things here and there. But being suddenly given this responsibility? There were a lot of other reasons for this, but why exactly her? It made her wonder if the admiralty was punishing her for bringing them here. Dar'ea decided to acknowledge this though. "They shall be my responsibility."

"There is nothing else that needs to be addressed further, however if something does arise, we shall be quick to inform you Lieutenant." Raan said to the UCAF operative. "This meeting is concluded."

30 minutes later…

Autumn hated politics and he hated politicians even more, leering sleazy bastards would do anything to get their hands on whatever that wasn't nailed down, proverbially, politicians were universal, thankfully the UCAF had strict rules and regulations to politics and constantly monitored each person involved.

But not every politician is some blood sucking leech, that he had to understand was each politician is motivated by something. And he knew the quarian admiralty which he had just spoken to had a possible agenda against the UCAF or Aegis, but it was still premature, he had to confirm it before acting.

As for his opinion on the whole lot of them, he had a feeling that they were holding out on something, and not to mention confining him and his team to the Sodo told him they didn't want his team to be aboard the Rayya for the time being. Likely an internal discussion between the admirals was likely to occur soon enough about their stance on the UCAF.

It wasn't a bad thing, but from the political atmosphere Autumn was receiving, the people were more aiming for someone who would allow them to indulge in their pride as a species, which meant a strong leader, or a strong nationalist like image. Autumn observed from his time inside and outside the chamber, but Qwib-Qwib might be on the losing end of the board, as good as his intentions are, he wasn't in a truly strong position.

Han Gerrel had something about him which would make him a viable leader, but his goals were likely similar amongst the other admirals, to take back the homeworld. He just hoped he didn't get swept up in all of it, the more Autumn thought things through the more he felt as if there was something in this air. Something that wasn't quite right…

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AN: Tada, the end for both the Council and Quarians, the next section will now be focusing on more action and also reputation garnering. And also hints to future enemies, and possibly going to the UNSC and fighting on Earth and Reach. But that's not decided yet. Also I haven't slept in a while so cut me some slack. I really need to catch up with other work.

XXXXX

(This is a more specific overview of the Fenrisson, but it's still limited.)

UCAF Codex: Valencian: "Fenrisson"

The Valencian which are usually referred to as the Fenrisson are not as Earth like as their name suggests, the Valencian name came around during the near end of the Nova Arcadian era nearly 34,000 years ago. The Valencian people came into contact with the Nova Arcadians during the collapse of Arcadian territory at the hands of the Albion Empire which had violently came into power, their forceful invasion of old Arcadian territory forced many to flee to any random direction they could reach.

The Valencian people discovered the refugees of the Arcadian empire who had unfortunately managed to crash land onto their world, when the two sides met there was an exchange of hostility. The Arcadians who remained on Valence deemed the population far too hostile to coexist alongside and determined the best course of action was to leave.

The records kept of the world of Valence were taken by the Arcadians to neutral territory of the outer colonies where the knowledge would later pass on to future explorers who would one day find the world of Valence once more. It wasn't until many millennia later that the Empire of Shion and surrounding nations began expansion into the outer regions of Nova Stratus that Valence was rediscovered.

During this period the Shion Empire was reaching the end of its expansion era due to heavy requirements of military forces to keep its colonies safe and continued harassment from the pirates of various independent worlds raiding shipping and transport routes. Those who went to Valence offered the inhabitants advanced weapon forging in exchange for rare metals required for crafting said weapons.

The short exchange ended after 50 years and the regression of the Shion Empire's vast military resources began to dwindle. It was the period after the collapse that the Wolves of Valence were born. During the period after the imperial age, the arrival of the ICA enabled the Valencians to begin expansion into space, cooperative expansion also allowed for the Valencians to begin large scale mining and trade.

Military wise the Valencians never had required for major military force till the First Colonial War and the Second Colonial War. As to how the name Fenrisson was derived was by a researcher who referred to the Valencians as worshipers to a wolf like spirit reminiscent to the Norse Legend Fenris.

Culture:

The common misconception about the Valencian people being related to Earth's Nordic culture was a fairly large mistake; the actual culture in which he Valencians lived by was more reminiscent to the Native American Indians. However certain aspects can be considered part of both, the overall culture stems from its origins.

Much of the culture is based quite simply within family; however for those who come from more militant members of their culture, it becomes bonds of brotherhood and honour. The warrior races of Valence are a hierarchical clan which revolves around honour amongst each member and a strong sense of bonding which each warrior is expected to participate.

The warrior caste recruits by calling upon their fellow clan members, from the youngest, and at times older. Youngest are trained to fight in various forms of hand to hand and with melee weapons, once skilled enough they are taken upon a Blood Rite. The Blood Rite determines whether they are ready to become a warrior of their clan.

To become a warrior they must kill a predatory creature which roams in the most remote locations of their world, this process remains highly dangerous as predatory creatures tend to be either:

24 meter freshwater Maulers (something that is closely related to a crocodile, more prehistoric)

30 meter great horned boars

64 meter (wingspan) black talon eagles (they're enormous regardless)

On rare occasions they would hunt large cephalopod creatures known as Krakens, they are as large as 128 meters in size and have been known to grow even larger.

Biology:

The Valencian people are unique in their own right, they aren't that different from normal humans and yet their bodies have evolved to adapt to the harshness of their world, they grow in sizes as big as 2.1 meters to heights of 6.4. They are the largest species of humans next to the giants of Zephyr, or the Vulcans of Edymion.

The relative similarity of their race is that they possess incredibly strong bone structure, some of which are as strong as titanium or iridium, their muscular structure is considered one of the strongest next to that of other humans which evolved on high gravitational worlds.

The one unique trait in which humans of Valence have gained is a higher regenerative rate for any wounds they suffer from cuts and broken bones. Aside from this the humans of Valence share the same biological traits as the rest of the human race.

XXXXX

UCAF Codex: Verdian: "Honorabilis animi"

The Verdian's, or more commonly known as the Death Guard, are a species of humans within the UCAF, of the 387 official human species, the Verdians are by far the most elusive race in the UCAF. From their official homeworld of Vertius, the Verdians act within all accordance to UCAF laws and regulations, however there are reports that the Verdians originate from another world.

Vertius is located on the edge of Nova Stratus, bordering the Verde Southern Segment, deep inside the segment there is little starlight or celestial bodies that are visible due to the unique development of the Verde Region. The segment is packed within a dense nebula, making it incredibly difficult to navigate the region visually.

It is here the original homeworld of the Verdian's resides, it is called 'Ulterius Umbra', it is a planet covered in a number of thermal vents and deep caverns, the humans there evolved with the local fauna and flora. But due to the darkness of the world, the humans there lived in near total darkness, only having occasional bursts of dimmed light from their local star.

Due to this unique condition the eyes of the humans on Umbra developed a natural night vision, but also an adaptation of infrared sight, most likely to hunt their prey in the darkness of the caverns they live within. As to how the humans of Umbra managed to expand was during the Arcadian Imperial Age.

The Arcadians expansions into new territories linked via trans-light gateways found Umbra by accident, and named the world as it is known. But any attempts to colonise the planet was considered insane and highly dangerous, after several attempts to subdue the local humans failed, the Arcadians abandoned the planet altogether and left behind much of their technology and resources behind.

From there local translators and highly skilled members of the Umbra humans learnt to control their local gateway and began to search for new worlds to colonise. For thousands of years of expansion, the Verdian's are now the result of this expansion. However their original homeworld is considered sacred and no outsider is permitted to travel to it, hence the reason for their official capital being Vertius.

For a more complete historical record on the Verdian's please refer to the UCAF Archives on Anomia, by Dr Samantha Right CC-123.

Biology: Verdian

Verdians due to evolving with barely any sunlight; their skins are highly pale, but will not tan easily in the presence of sunlight, the reason for their skin being difficult to absorb sunlight is due to solar radiation their original homeworld was usually bathed in, even though direct light did not penetrate the deep layers of the nebula, the radiation from the star did.

There are other things to note about the biology of Verdian's, their skin is highly sensitive to motion in the air, it is an adaption to enable the humans of Umbra to detect movement from prey but also the various predators on their world. This gives them a higher sense of perception in caverns and night time, also enclosed spaces.

Their heightened sense of perception also is apparent in their hearing, however since their colonisation, their sense of hearing has alternated from the original Umbra's level of hearing. Pale hair is also another trait the Verdian's have inherited; the hair colours are usually either, silver, grey or pale white.

Eye colours remained the same regardless of how many generations since the first Umbra humans appeared, Verdians have a deep red eye which does seemingly glow when there is no light. As for the reason, it is due to their infrared eyesight, rapid nerve processing causes the eyes to seemingly glow from use.

Their species height varies between, 1.9 meters in height to 2.4.

XXXXX

(I am going to be retconning a lot of stuff from the original UCAF history, as it was just a WIP, none of the original work really matters as much now, and also because I'm writing up the full history and origins of the UCAF into a full story of its own, which has no relation to any book or movie or game, it's a fiction which I'm trying to construct. Hope you guys like it when it comes out. But yes all lore will be summed up to the past 50-70 years rather than the past 3000+ years.)

UCAF Archive: The battle of Hyperion Apex

In late December of 2550 the battle of Hyperion took place over a remote location far from Nova Stratus, there a Covenant Prophet; Reverence took a crusade force to claim an ancient Forerunner Apex Class Dreadnought. The UCAF had managed to gleam the location thanks to aid from Separatist Covenant forces and the aid of the Advent order, a massive strike force led by the Spartan Supreme Commander, Himitsuki led the assault against Reverence.

The battle lasted 3 days and destroyed tens of thousands of vessels, the Apex did fall into Reverence's hands if only for a brief amount of time, before being destroyed by a suicide team led by the Spartan Supreme Commander. The destruction of the Apex and the death of Reverence shattered Covenant forces morale and sent the Separatists into action; this was the turning point in the war.

However the cost of the battle came high, most of the Supreme Commander's team was lost during the battle, and many UCAF vessels were lost thanks to the Apex. The victory gained from overcoming the Apex has however enabled the UCAF to splinter Covenant lines, and allowed for the UCAF to begin the push to reclaim lost UCAF worlds.


	14. Event 14

Event 14- The Heralds of War…

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AN: Votes are coming back in this arc, get your decisions planned cause they're only open for a week then I'm going to close them to write up the chapter, sadly you all know what this usually entails, the chapter updates for Gateway to Revelation will be extended over longer periods because I do have work to complete and other errands to run. And family to take care of amongst my free time, so fanfics come as a 5th priority when I have time.

I'm currently reviewing past content with a number of other stories; such has Era of Contravene which will be getting its ending before a proper hiatus is announced and then a full revision of the story. With that said, a whole bunch of new stories will be coming out fairly soon, possibly right next to this chapter update.

XXXXXX

(Trying new formats for locations and titles, I still haven't decided.)

Location: Serpent Nebula- Citadel- Dock: UCAF 'Against All Tyrants'

Acker was on his way back to the ship, with both a sense of relief to finally have concluded this business with the Citadel Council and its overtly intrusive policies and meaningless arguments. There was enough politics to be dealt with back in the UCAF, well not that much for the UCAF military, but the point stands.

Acker honestly couldn't imagine why anyone would be this hard-lined about the UCAFs trade decision, but alas there wasn't going to be any justice for the UCAF. With their absolute withdrawal at his recommendation to the UCAF HIGH COM and Senate, the Council was now to face a very serious backlash with the public; of course this might force the hand of the Council to act more aggressively politically, their rejection by the UCAF would linger.

This little power play for all intents and purposes was to ensure the UCAFs interest in dealing with the Covenant wasn't overlooked; the Council's interventions had to be reduced. He knew that the Council would try to slander the UCAFs acts within the galaxy as hostile and try to paint the UCAF with as much blood as they could.

Acker could tell that Septimus wasn't too far from taking such action, the Hierarchy would undoubtedly have agreed to such a public attack on the UCAFs image if it meant that it would limit the influence the UCAF had within the greater galaxy. But instead Acker used this time to ensure that any such attempt was now impossible.

Any action with public media or through backdoor politics wouldn't be as effective, slandering the UCAF was now out of the question, and the Hierarchy had been forced into a tight spot. Acker knew the political layout of these people fairly well; they tend to think that soldiers would have no interest in politics. But Acker did, not long ago his family had wanted him to work his way to Governor of Callistus.

They sent him to 2 of the prestigious academies on Callistan to learn about politics and such, he didn't have too much of an interest, but he learnt a fair about how politics played out. And then he volunteered for the Marine Corps, he still wasn't sure if he would have been able to become a good Governor, but that was the past.

As he broke from the melancholy of his past life, he received a call over the coms. "Colonel, Captain Andrea reports that the Normandy wishes to depart." Sienna stated aptly.

Acker said. "Let them go. Oh by the way, tell Shepard, to drop back in when she needs to." He smiled.

"Understood." Sienna replied.

Once the com line closed, Acker felt tired, these days were taking their tolls on his body, the years he had spent his time as a recon marine had finally caught up to him unexpectedly. Of course being sent on every frontline mission tends to do that to soldiers of his age, he was getting worn out, being shot, blown up, and being stitched back together aren't the nicest parts of living life.

He chuckled a little at that thought; he wondered how all of the others of his former company were doing, the old 233rd UCAF Marine Corps, the company within the 233rd had served since the early years of the Human Covenant War. Right after he left Aegis, he spent years serving with so many from his former home-world.

Then many of them died as the war progressed, heck last time he checked on their original numbers, of the surviving 23 members, only 8 remained alive since last year. He did feel somewhat old, in comparison to all of those soldiers who fell under his command since the time he took command as the Commander of the 81st Recon.

In truth, this is what many officers in his position felt, their time was coming up to retire from active service, and they usually take a position to fall into the background and then drop out from commanding. Of course in his case, it seemed that a crisis of this magnitude required him to be active for a while longer.

This was to be his last command, and if he lived through it, then he was going to retire successfully from the military, like many others who also followed this path. Becoming a veteran was one thing many agree upon, that once you feel like you've done all you could, and then you should just let someone else take over for you.

Of course his replacement for the 81st had yet to be decided, since he wasn't retired yet, and he hadn't made an exact arrangement for such an officer to replace him. He hadn't really thought about it before, but he did wonder if an officer such as Jay wouldn't mind taking his place. Of course that was just a thought, truly trusting the full company in the hands of Jay did seem a bit rushed.

Until the time he wasn't needed anymore he would have to keep thinking of what he was going to do next, plans had to be put together and strategies constructed, of all the things to come from this war, he knew that in the end peace will be there. The gunship made its final approach back to the ship.

As he stepped off the gunship he received a message from Shepard as she departed the region. It read:  
>"You know that we'll need it."<p>

He smiled at the message. He thought of the Commander as a woman who reminded him of himself when he was a lieutenant, those days of going out on skirmishes against the Covenant were definitely interesting. With all of the battles taking place far in the borders of the UCAF, lots of things to run across.

He hoped the Commander had more memorable assignments.

XXXXXX

Normandy- En Route to Noveria

As Shepard checked over the reports from all systems aboard the Normandy, she found that everything seemed to be quite frankly better than before, well better when the Normandy first launched. It was quite impressive that the UCAF had improved the efficiency of the Normandy quite significantly.

Sienna knew her craft; the whole ship was running at 140%, well past what was expected of the ship, the inbuilt heat sinks for the stealth function of the Normandy had been improved quite significantly, the ship could stay cloaked for well over a day. And then the new stealth coating was working wonders for the ship, they tested the system a couple of times before leaving dock.

The stealth coating reacted exactly as Sienna explained, the special colloid coating seemed to blend with the environment like a chameleon. That said the crew got to enjoy a meal within its halls which weren't ration packs. This was more signified as a celebratory thing for the ship, they didn't have time to go about and celebrate as exuberantly.

Before the ship left, Shepard received the message from the Colonel; she laughed a little at his departing words and replied in kind. She hoped that Acker was prepared, considering everything the Council went and done, the Colonel was in need of some support, she just hoped that he knew what he was doing.

As they pulled out of the hangar bay of the 'Tyrant' they made a beeline straight for the Relay and towards Noveria, it was a little disappointing that they wouldn't get a chance to get any further support from Acker, but that was the decision, it was more to ensure that the Council didn't take this as a contradiction to their current stance.

It was likely that he would change this policy once they engaged in battle against the Covenant, wherever the Covenant forces were. Till then Shepard and her crew were going at it by themselves against Saren and the Geth. As the Normandy sped through FTL to the Horsehead Nebula, there was an air of unease of what to expect.

Shepard was half expecting that things at Noveria would be very likely difficult, especially with all of the talk about current issues, the reports about the recent incident at Binary Helix involving some internal strife with the current administrator and a staff member at the company. Of course there was also the recent report that Matriarch Benezzia had arrived there on behalf of Saren, of course this report was from a couple of days ago.

Liara was anxious about the family reunion and then there was also those issues in the Voyager Cluster regarding recent attacks by the Geth, why the situation hadn't improved was still unresolved. Shepard had heard rumours that the Council intentionally withdrew forces to aid the human colonies and settlements currently under assault there.

If the rumours had any bearing then it was only a matter of time before further accusations result in widespread anger at the council for doing nothing but sitting on their collective asses. Then again, they might just try to pan some blame off on the UCAF with the recent meetings being held and such, but with their withdrawal, there really wasn't much of an excuse now.

As the situation with the Council quickly became a political 'shit-storm', Shepard found herself in a tedious position as well, the Systems Alliance wanted to take matters into their own hands regarding the geth assaults. From what she had heard from Anderson, there was likely going to be some backdoor deals being made for further construction of military vessels and further increase in military production.

It was against the policies that the Council had instilled, but the Systems Alliance couldn't continue being assaulted like this continuously by the Geth and do nothing. Of course there was also the chance the Batarians might use this increase as an excuse to launch a skirmish with the HSA, but nothing else could be done.

Current Alliance government leaders were talking with PMC, Private Military Corporations; this wasn't exactly something the SA was proud of, considering that the PMC feeds directly off of warfare and conflicts of industry and wealth. The situation with the PMC in the past was the heavy taxation the SA enacted to ensure that distribution of armaments and military technologies was limited.

Up until recently there was a meeting between PMC CEO Julian Everest and the Alliance government, which resulted in a further restriction of arms to outer colony regions. It wasn't exactly the best news to hit the networks considering that many colonists regarded weaponry an individual's right. Slaver attacks over the last 10 years hadn't helped with this either.

The undercurrent of feelings towards the Alliance government hadn't entirely gone sour, but without getting some support, it was only a matter of time before a colony decided to go and secede from the SA, and then the rest would try to do the same. The fear of insurrection within the colonies had become an alarming topic amongst the chain of command and the government.

Many had concerns that if this divulged any further, then it was only a matter of time before full scale war began with the SA colonies. A lot of reasons to this fear of insurrection were coming out from those who saw the SA as nothing more than an extension of the Citadel Council upon the rest of humanity.

Sure there had been some past incidents regarding the colonies and earth, but to go to full scale revolution was something unheard of. Of course this was an unheard of situation, undoubtedly there was likely some resentment held by colonists in regards to something's which the SA was doing, it did seem quite serious, but little could be done at the moment.

Shepard contemplated the whole mess which was now brewing around their little pocket of the galaxy, however her thoughts were interrupted as a message came over the intercom. "Commander, we're approaching the Mass Relay now." Joker said as the ship prepared to make the long jump to Noveria.

"Understood." Shepard replied as they lined up and headed straight forwards.

The Normandy reached the Relay and passed along the length of the structure, speeding up it accelerated into FTL.

XXXXX

Shortly after the departure of the Normandy, the 'Tyrant' began its departure from the Citadel; they received a green light from the Tower once the engines began to charge, the hydrogen fusion burn propelled the ship passed the Council Fleet. Once reaching a safe distance, Acker ordered them to set course for the Epping System; it was time to pick up their new arrivals.

In a matter of moments, the 'Tyrant' opened up the slip-space rift and pulled itself through, vanishing from the sensors of the Council and the rest of the races which were present, the number of tracking tools which were likely to have been used to track the 'Tyrant's' movements were only going to record nothing.

Sienna wasn't stupid enough to not monitor the outside of the ship or when they passed the number of civilian shuttles, the shields deterred most of the outsiders from trying to place trackers, but then there was the council's own little monitoring teams. The ship had a total of 4 trackers placed, all of which were scrambled once they entered into slip-space.

Sienna didn't shield the tracking nodes and let them fry a little bit before continuing to head towards Epping, there was little time to waste, however there was still a few things that needed to be addressed. One being the particular gift that the Quarians wanted in exchange for the lives of the UCAF team they rescued.

Of course there was likely another reason for their rescue, which undoubtedly might raise alarms with the other members of the crew, considering their species, there was likely a high chance that the Cyrillions aboard the ship might be concerned about the history of which the Quarians were known for.

The chance that the Quarians might do something rash was fairly high, at least in the opinions of the UCAF's cybernetic department, though they did think about the implications that they might do nothing at all for now. Acker honestly knew that the situation with the Quarians was interesting and all, but playing things on the safe side was preferable.

And of course the decision to pay the quarians was being considered. "So how about just an empty husk of a shuttle, that might be better than just giving them anything more advanced, they could fill the gaps in the engineering and technology area with their own tech, it'd save a lot of trouble having to just build them the thing and figure out our systems aren't compatible." Andrea suggested.

"That's true, they are technical specialists and cybernetic specialists, programming a shuttle of a certain size couldn't possibly too much trouble. Unless they decide they don't exactly like the idea of having just a shuttle." Dresden stated in a rather cautious tone.

"I have to agree, there's a possible chance that they might change their minds and ask for something bigger than just a shuttle, now I'm not saying that they're greedy, but they are in heavy need of space and ships to cover this, there is a possible chance they'd ask for something a bit more sizeable." Sienna stated as she ran through the data on the quarians that they received from the Citadel before departing.

"So what we give them something a lot bigger than just a shuttle? A light freighter then? I mean it's going to be hollowed so there isn't too much need to worry about it being used to attack anyone, and these people don't seem like they'd look a gift horse in the mouth, or well a boat in this case." Brian the ADST commander stated whilst he lay back in his chair.

"Well if they want the light freighter, they can have it, I'm sure we can manufacture one in no time, it's not like making an empty shell is difficult work. Sienna, do you have any candidates for giving to the Quarians?" Dresden asked.

Sienna ran through the list of old freighter designs, of course there were plenty the UCAF still heavily traded over a varying range of distances between sectors of the Nova Stratus region. As they ran through the list, Sienna singled out the ones she believed were more appealing.  
>"I have a total of 5 possible freighters that could be used, just in case the shuttle doesn't take."<p>

She revealed the 5 choices, each one was oblong in design, not to mention bulky, and the ships in question were all older freighters from over a century back, the designs were still useable. Acker looked over the selection carefully while the others did likewise, his command staff really didn't spend that long though.

After about an hour, Acker decided upon a cargo freighter which was old and reliable, though it was mostly just hexagonal blocks and looked pretty geometric, it was better than the one selected by the Helldiver commander Major Autumn, who thought it would be interesting if the quarians liked an old Archer class Freighter which was infamous for breaking down.

"I think that I'll follow the Colonel's decision for the cargo freighter, it seems a lot more sensible." Sienna stated.

"Right, well you can get started on that, it is time that the proper reasons for this meeting got underway." Acker stated.

All those at the conference table understood and took proper seats, all senior staff members in charge of each of their own departments carefully sat down at the table with their eyes floating between each other. There was an atmosphere between each individual department, none of them usually bothered to chat amongst one another when it came down to non-professional matters.

That said, Acker had to address this as quickly as possible.  
>"Now I knew we've been essentially given a mission to do all we can to stop the Covenant here, and that it will likely be on our own, but we do need to address this issue with communications people. We cannot maintain cohesion as a whole if each department doesn't begin to communicate issues between each other, not to mention the fact that we will soon have an additional increase in personnel thanks to our requisition." Acker explained.<p>

"Sir, I think my department is the only one which remains at liberty to remain sporadic in our involvement with the rest of the crew." Major Autumn stated.

It did technically make sense; the Helldivers were the only ones who had a legitimate excuse for not being as interactive. "Very well Major Autumn, but I do want you to at least have a few members try and keep tabs on ship wide status updates and at least speak a little more between each department. And most of these departments are in charge of rearming and refuelling most of your troops." Acker stated clearly. Autumn got the picture and gave an understanding nod.

"Ok now that we've got that cleared up, how's our corvette escorts doing?" Acker asked Andrea.

"They were a little tired from waiting for us to get moving, they haven't complained yet, but I do feel the Commander of the second escort having a little annoyance with all of the waiting around, I did address this just yesterday. At the moment our escorts believe that this start on the hunt for the Covenant is a good step forwards." Andrea replied as calmly as she could.

"Well there's that, how about engineering?" He asked to the wiry officer who he had yet to remember his name.

"Ah yes, our department has currently ran some diagnostic protocols and manual maintenance check-ups since we entered into this universe and we have determined that regardless of what universe we travel to, the slip-space variance isn't changed. It's quite interesting, and somewhat requires further investigation. This'd have to be done by probably a more experienced quantum mechanics or researcher rather than me and 4 other members of the engineering department." The chief engineer replied.

"Ok and the rest of the systems to the 'Tyrant'?" He asked.

"Oh right, the ship in terms of fusion generation we're good for a long time, there are no micro charges or unpredicted anomalies from our trip. Shields are all green, forward MAC guns are good, our mass fabrication and conversion tools are all running hot, no need to change our sensor nodes or have to adjust our navigational computers. And I do believe that we will probably not need to go and service our lab containment field projectors, at least not until they need an update." The chief engineer was about to continue with the list until Sienna interrupted.

"That's all we need to know for now Wilson." She gestured for him to stop talking to which he did. At least Acker learnt about whom the chief engineer was again, he really should keep a better list of other personnel.

"Alright, seeing as that we probably don't need to repair anything, Wilson can get started with constructing the cargo freighter for our meeting, and is there any other topic we need to cover before we reach our rendezvous point?" Acker asked the collected staff.

The chief medical officer, Darrel if he recalled answered his inquiry. "Sir I do have a few interests, there is one thing about this Quarian race, I read through the codex that they possess a weak immune system thanks to their isolation aboard their ships. Not to mention the section about how their planet's biosphere was more beneficial to the Quarians, with your permission sir, I'd like to begin synthesis of possible bio-matter adaptable for Quarian use." Darrel suggested.

It was an interesting little idea; it might come in handy in the future. "Very well, you have my permission to proceed with your bio synthesis project Doctor Darrel, I'll ask you though to withhold the information from reaching the ears of the Quarians. We don't really know how they'd react to our 'interest'." Acker advised.

The doctor nodded and there seemed to be no need for anything else to be discussed amongst the staff. Once that was sorted, they adjourned for the day; Sienna followed Acker as they both went to his personal quarters. Once there, he asked the AI. "You know maybe it might be just me, but I should really consider trying to get more familiar with the crew."

Sienna knew his little plight, but she warned him about it. "There are more than 10,000 personnel aboard the ship sir, and as much as you have been a company commander, I don't think going through over 10,000 personnel is a good idea. You probably should familiarise yourself with the junior or other ranks aboard, they usually summarise their overall attitude much better." She stated.

She made sense one thing about having an AI, though Sienna's type isn't necessarily artificial, heck the term AI changed 3 times over the course of 3000 years, a more correct term for her was Actual Intelligence. She was an AI which had been born originally as a bio-mechanical entity and then transferred her consciousness into living energy.

The whole process is kept secret because it's not meant to be seen by outsiders of the Cyrillion and Cypherian people, something about it being taboo for those who aren't born as bio-mechanical human. Aegis is one such example, though she is more machine, thanks to being created earlier, she hadn't had over a century's worth of knowledge and experience like many other cybernetic entities within the UCAF.

Of course her only more human experiences were with him, which would probably be the only non-professional kind of experience she has adapted to. He probably should look into cybernetic and human relationship details from the archives. He remembered that Sienna was still inside his room.  
>"Well I'll have to get to reading the reports of each officer, though the Warrant Officers will undoubtedly be a challenge, you know how they can act."<p>

Sienna nodded with a warm smile. "Understood sir, I'll bring up all appropriate files for you. Also I'd like to inform you that the pilots for the Halberd Squadron requested meeting you about adjusting their fighters with modified fusion lances."

"Right, tell him we'll meet in an hour, I do need to sort through some things over here." Acker motioned for her to depart. Sienna nodded and vanished in a flash of light. Sometimes he felt as if Sienna was like his mother, she was always watching over him think, and well she keeps him on task.

It's funny considering the 100,000 years since the first AI was ever discovered, Aeia was always the mother figure, and it's passed on since her to a number of her descendants AI. Though that would exclude the Machine Lords, they do act vastly differently from other AI. He broke away from his thoughts and focused on the task at hand.

Opening up the files of the crew manifest and all ranked officers, he began the steady process of reading the reports and profiles of all the assigned members, aside from ONI and Independent members of the UCAF. Those members he would leave to last. He also kept tabs on what progress was being made across the ship.

Now all that was left to do was wait and see what was going to happen in the next 3 days.

XXXXX

Location: Location: Quarian Flotilla- Rayya- Sorodo

Lieutenant Autumn honestly couldn't figure out what was more annoying having to wait inside this cramped alien ship with nowhere else to go but outside and around the deck, or the fact that there were continuous observation of him and his team by a dozen or so Quarian marines and other personnel.

As the time passed, Autumn learnt a fair bit about what was going on aboard the Rayya, lots of talk between the admirals about what they intended to do once they met up with the UCAF, it was in many people's opinion a short dialogue with a quick trade. Autumn thought of the same thing, though he had certain concerns that this wasn't entirely the case.

From one thing he knew the Quarians were determined to get recognised by the UCAF, and with all the news with what happened between the Citadel Council, this galaxy's version of a galactic government, a really bad one considering all the slurs they used regarding the Council. He knew that this was likely to be used to gain a public image.

As brief as that may be, this was also something the Quarians wanted to use to open dialogue with the UCAF properly, political posturing was something Autumn only briefly learnt in the UCAF Academy. He knew that this was more political and social, from what he read on the Quarians, they seem fairly disliked across the galaxy.

Quarians were just using this to probably rub it into the face of the Council, and likely garner attention to their action; of course this would be viewed as something fairly hollow. It wasn't like the UCAF was giving them military support or technological support, this was more of an exchange.

As much as this seemed like a pointless idea in Autumn's mind, it seemed fairly good in the minds of the Quarian Admiralty board, as much as it may just turn some heads in their general direction. It wouldn't accomplish too much, and Autumn was doubtful that this would keep communications between the Quarians and the UCAF open for long.

As he thought it over, he did some sit ups from the corner of his cramped room, he was sharing with Aegis at the moment, but they usually cycled between Jen and Ann. It was then he recalled something, he did remember Acker was a formerly educated member of the UCAF in terms of politics, well very basic politics.

He had vastly more professional logic and sharp charisma than something boisterous, sure it didn't get him very far, but he would have made a wonderful lawyer if he really wanted to. Though Law and Order isn't something that Acker was famous for, he usually didn't stick so heavily to the chain of command style.

It was then Autumn counted 340 sit ups and pushed off the wall his feet were pressed against. Getting upright he turned to check his Nova tool, he counted the time and date since he spoke with Autumn, about 2 days, which meant the Colonel was presently picking up the members of the UCAF support forces which were likely to have arrived.

He hoped that they didn't take too long, staying inside the Sorodo for an extra day didn't exactly sound too appealing.

XXXXX

Location: Epping- Orbit

Acker was grateful for Sienna's impeccable sense of timing, the 'Tyrant' had arrived approximately hours early and so did the entire support force that had been requisitioned to aid his battle group. He stood out on the bridge of the ship watching as the Whitetail Legionaries arrived aboard their ship the 'Absolute Night', and the Marines of the Death Guard on the carrier 'Big Ben'.

They were shortly followed by the arrival of the Fenrissons; the clan based ship of the Bleeding Fangs arrived right behind the Big Ben, its massive wolf like front prow snarling in the hard vacuum. Many people do admit, as communal based as the Fenrissons are, they're proven to be very capable fighters in comparison to many other species of humans.

'Big Ben' was more of a straight up carrier, boxy in design like all UCAF carriers, and had a single oblong tower running across the aft of the ship near to the engines, the hull plating seemed incredibly thick, and it did make sense, the ship carried thousands of eager veteran marines ready for battle.

'Absolute Night' is probably the hardest to describe, its design is similar to the design of the 'Tyrant' much like a destroyer class, but at the same time was incorporated with the design of a heavy cruiser and a heavy assault frigate, making it a ship of serious proportions, angular above, and hexagonal below, at the aft there were fin shaped engines capable of reaching incredibly high speeds.

The ship was as its name suggests, pitch black, the entire outer hull was painted over with light absorbing materials which refracted it in order to make it incredibly hard to visually detect, and it also had sensor ghosting effects which made it impossible to scan. Not to mention the numerous other external upgrades a ship like this class underwent, it in its own right could easily outgun the 'Tyrant' half a dozen times over.

After the arrival of the Helldivers the Adepts came at last, their appearance was a little less intimidating and direct, they had boarded a modified UCAF gunboat called the 'Crossing Rivet' it was a fairly simple ship. The gunboat was about 225 meters in length and 30 meters in height, its breadth was 95 meters.

It hadn't a vast array of weapons, only a dozen or so rail guns, a few heavier forward batteries, a number of anti-air weapons and the only real main weapon being a forward particle cannon, the new cannon was added a few years back when the UCAF finally decided to change from laser based energy weapons on UCAF ships. Of course this wasn't implemented across the whole fleet yet, but a good portion of it.

The gunboat lined itself next to the 'Absolute Night' and shortly afterwards the ships hailed the 'Tyrant', Acker answered the hail and linked it to a full conference call, rather than having to answer each hail separately. Acker straightened his uniform out and looked as presentable as he could, which wasn't really too different from his usual style of clothes.

As the display activated, he was greeted by the sight of each officer of each ship and the officers in command or in terms of the Adepts, representative, stood at attention. "It's good to see that you could all make it in time for our departure." Acker began aptly.

"Well you know how it is back at the UCAF, we've got Covenant desperate to breach the Daedalus Line, they've lost cohesion though and most of the fleets just splinter into small strike forces, which is steadily becoming a problem since most of our fleet is being dedicated to preparing for that massive operation soon." The Captain of the 'Big Ben' stated with a shrug.

"Well at least you managed to get here faster than us; damn Harold can't keep us in a straight line." The Adept Valia stated with a pout.

"We've been waiting for a change of pace; we're ready to get going on your command Colonel." The Helldiver Commander Ashton said whilst reading from his neural net feed of his ship.

"I know it's kind of rushing ahead without proper introductions, we'll meet aboard my ship once we get underway, as we do have a deadline to keep up with." Acker stated before gesturing to Sienna to take over and upload the coordinates to the Quarian Migrant Fleet.

Once they all received the coordinates, they began to plot a course to the designated jump point and enter into slip-space, they were about to finish their mission to recover the formerly missing members of the UCAF military. Of course this was easier said than done; Acker suspected the possibility of things going wrong was probably low at the moment, but it still remained constant.

As their fleet entered into slip-space Acker made sure the conference room was set up correctly for the arrival of both the new officers and their esteemed guests of the Adept Orders. While he took his time to read through some final reports from the UCAF, he received word from the UCAF HIGH COM about their suggestion dealing with the Council, they hoped that things would have been smoother however supported his decision to sever ties.

As for the situation with Autumn and his team which had apparently recovered from stasis, they were required to be required immediately, their knowledge about certain details of their mission had the UCAF HIGH COM and ONI on high alert. That and the fact that the Covenant fleet was coming to the gateway in roughly 4 days; they preferred not closing the gateway and sealing Acker and his men behind. But under the circumstances, there might be no choice.

As Acker processed the reports from the UCAF HIGH COM he had also received news from the progress of the war itself, apparently the whole situation with the Covenant Command structure was more superficial in terms of damage. As at least a half dozen of the hierarchs of the Covenant were attempting to consolidate the scattered forces.

It is estimated by the time of the new offensive operation, the UCAF would be able to catch the Covenant off guard and force them from their entrenched positions and into the open, and afterwards they'd keep rolling them back. It wasn't the most brilliant of strategies, but it was considerably more effective.

Acker broke from his thoughts as the members of his own crew arrived to take their seats; they all talked amongst themselves while they waited for the other members of the fleet to arrive. They didn't need to wait long, the first group of officers were from the 'Big Ben' and there were a lot of them.

'Big Ben' was technically carrying a full division of marines on top of a fully mobilised technical and engineering corps and a number of pilots and specialists. Acker could tell there was a lot of activity amongst the members of the ship and the troops aboard. 5 of the highest ranking members of the ship were the ones representing the whole division and ship.

He identified each officer:  
>Name: Alexi Eukov<br>Age: 24  
>Rank: Major<br>Position: Commander of the 4th Division, 2nd Battalion, veteran, personal aide to division commander

Bio: Alexi has very little history as does most of the Death Guard; all personal records are kept on a separate file. Military history of Major Alexi starts 9 years ago during the initial start of the conflict within the South Eastern Counterpoint region of the UCAF colonies, his early career was recognised for his troop's ability to fight during night time engagements and on a dead mining colony which had no source of light.

The two major battles earned Alexi 5 commendations, however received 1 penalty for assaulting a civilian engineer over a complication. His record kept clean for the most part after the incident, and he was promoted to lieutenant by 5 years into his service. His battle on Vaxus Prime was recorded to be his crowning achievement; he and his marines saved a total of 47,900 people from the besieged colony before luring the Covenant into a deadly trap.

Psych Profile:  
>There is no doubt that Alexi is a brilliant strategist, however there is advisement that he does at times not always take into account of the unexpected or unprecedented, his personality overall is usually passive aggressive, usually shows no sense of humour but does talk with his men.<p>

Name: Kiel Vallin  
>Age: 28<br>Rank: Colonel  
>Position: Commander of the 15th Legion 4th Division<p>

Bio: Kiel is well known amongst the troops, his career started earlier than rest as he joined during the start of the Daedalus Campaigns by the Covenant, he survived a number of vicious battles from the frontline, however decided to take part in another theatre of war. His reputation however was earned from several major battles he took part in and lived through.

After the initial start as a senior officer for the 4th Division he took the challenge of fighting the war on all kinds of fronts aside from the Daedalus Line itself. His men have since earned their reputation for taking the Covenant on in other frontiers of the war and also aided in some other side projects which required security against attack.

Kiel has the best intentions for his men, and usually keeps them together in any major theatre which they are moved to, he does take caution when facing a determined opponent and takes pride in his men.

Psych Profile:  
>Kiel has been a very stable soldier since the start of his term as a private, and even when faced with incredible odds such as the Daedalus Campaigns, he has remained capable. He does have a certain subconscious fear of returning to the Daedalus Line due to the heavy losses he had seen during the war, and seems to dread having to fight there again.<p>

Since this became apparent, the UCAF has stationed him and his men along other regions of the UCAF utilising their night time warfare capabilities on fronts they can handle for the most part. When faced with unpredictable scenarios occur, Kiel has been known to handle them well.

Name: Havik Malak  
>Age: 23<br>Rank: Colonel  
>Position: Tank Commander, Colonel, Technical regiment officer<p>

Bio: Malak was brought into the war by certain unfortunate circumstances, mainly with the death of his CO during the initial assault on a protected colony roughly 2 years ago; Malak has since assumed the position as commander of the Technical Division. His service as commander has merit, but the colonel has his rougher side.

Many battle tactics employed by Malak are usually quite defensive or offensive, very well organised and planned, however his organised strategies have proven to usually fall under heavy scrutiny during actual battles. He has however adapted his strategies when faced with such difficulty, and he has proven his worth as a capable officer.

Psych Profile:  
>Malak has rough edges in terms of personality, he is astute in his thinking, and at times he can be methodical in his interaction with his men, proving to act more distant with his troops in general. Of course this does change at times after battle or on the eve of battle, he reacts differently when it comes to various other officers of the UCAF.<p>

Name: Taren Val'sec  
>Age: 25<br>Rank: Captain  
>Position: Commanding Officer of the 'Big Ben'<p>

Bio: Taren was a space born child, growing up during the start of the war, he was brought to face the horrors of the Covenant when his space colony was destroyed during a skirmish and brought to a UCAF colony further away from the frontlines. He grew up like many children with hatred against the Covenant.

His zeal is something that isn't questioned; however his aggressive attitude can sometimes blind him from the possible threats of being drawn into unwinnable battles. He has since undergone a number of changes of theatres under the order of the UCAF Naval Command. His aggression is noted to be both a motivator and a liability.

Psych Profile: Taren is a very capable officer, and highly attentive to the progress of battles, he has a tendency to act 'sporadically'; he is a brilliant tactician and one that has earned him an infamous title amongst his troops. He tends to keep his plans to himself, and they usually entail an insane level of ingenuity. He has since been labelled as the 'Crazed Tactician' of the UCAF Navy.

Name: Liam Van  
>Age: 23<br>Rank: Commander  
>Position: 1st Officer of the 'Big Ben'<p>

Bio: Liam was born in the Nova Strata's Eastern Fringe, raised on the edges of UCAF law he grew up in the footsteps of his great, great grandfather who served during the first Colonial War, he shortly joined the UCAF Naval division and forwarded to the Daedalus Line during the brunt of the Covenant Crusade. He has served as aide to Taren and has proven himself an equally capable tactician if less eccentric and more methodical.

Psych Profile: [Psychic-Class 5]  
>A special circumstance exists here for Liam, he is listed as a lower class psychic, which implies a certainly long gap in his genetic heritage where one of his ancestors may have been a half psychic from the Thilionian region. The ONI has cleared Liam for duty though does wish to exercise caution, few part psychics are left unattended without some member of the crew being a higher full-fledged psychic.<p>

Each profile was about as useful as a piece of paper stating the most obvious facts about an apple, it gave him little insight into each member's unique talents and more forewarned him about what they could possibly do. He took the advisement of Liam's heritage as a bonus if not a slightly withdrawn kind of bonus.

He looked over to the other members at the table, such was the next set of senior officers of the Helldiver's, and their ship's CO was also their division commander, which was interesting. He read through each profile on their command staff, which was limited to only 3 members, while it may have seemed, it was somewhat strange it did make sense. 3 of the most deadly members of the division were also the most skilled and experienced to lead.

Major William Foster, from what he could read about, Foster was a simple man, if not cold on the outside, he had a burning fire on the inside, one which usually involved decapitating Covenant Elites and hanging their heads on metal poles. He was a fairly passive man on the outside, but he had a raw fury that very few UCAF soldiers could ever match. It's kept him alive and also threatened to get him killed on plenty of occasions.

Captain Jonas Archer, Jonas is a brilliant sniper and tactician; he has fought on the [Death World] Hector Paxius, one of the most hostile worlds the UCAF had ever colonised. His missions there were dubious in every sense of the word, however his campaign on the world cost him the life of his biological brother as well as many under his command. He has remained at distance with his new soldiers, but he does rouse his soldiers to fight just like himself.

Commander Gregory Huntsman, Huntsman is infamous in name and title, his history has led him through many demotions and promotions, he was elevated to the rank of Commander 3 years ago even though he should have been demoted. The main reason was for his exemplary bit of work during the assault on the UCAF colony of Ceritus.

He led an insanely dangerous operation which resulted in the death of 3 members of his command team, but he and his strike force had successfully managed to obliterate the Covenant beachhead. There is little to add to his psychic profile aside from his laid back attitude and usually cheeky comments, he's as impartial as any other member of the UCAF.

Acker felt that he was going to have an interesting time with the members of the Helldivers, but of course they weren't the icing on the proverbial cake, the next on the list was the members of the Fenrisson clan members. The enormous men sat down on reinforced chairs at their end of the table, their armour causing the chairs to groan slightly under their weight.

Thankfully the UCAF created such a large network of corridors and internal structures to ensure that each member of the UCAF could pass through to the more critical sections of the ship without too much trouble. The Fenrissons had to be careful with walking on certain surfaces to ensure they didn't cause structural damage.

Acker carefully observed the members of the 'Bleeding Fangs', their deep onyx armour with shades of red and gold distinguished them from the dull grey colour of the room. Their Commander was a large lean man, who was at least 13'5ft with enough strength to match a lot of men. He wasn't augmented artificially; his suit bolstered his strength and coupled with his naturally inherited strength it made him quite formidable.

Of course there were other members of the clan who were equally formidable if not even more capable. Acker ran through the profile of these clan members.  
>Name: Arcticus Vaughn<br>Age: 26  
>Rank: Commander<br>Position: Pack Chief

Bio: Arcticus is one of the newest Pack Leaders available within the Bleeding Fangs clan, and has proven himself in a number of battles, though he has taken his fair share of wounds and injuries, he has a keen sense of duty and usually follows out each mission as best as he can do. His family heritage cannot be revealed due to spiritual reasons; he was raised to hunt large kinds of predators and game at a young age.

His history with the UCAF is recoded at the time at the start of the main Covenant push into the Western Sectors of the Nova Stratus region. His first few actions saw him through a number of battles and earned his title as Pack Hunter until a few years ago, which drove him to the current position as Pack Leader.

Psych Profile: Arcticus is not an impatient man, but he does tend to find long proceedings of the UCAF briefings dull. He uses Zen Buddhism like teachings in his combat style and turns most of his style of combat into an art. He does not crave bloodlust like some members of his species, but he does have tenacity when it comes to battle.

The next member of the clan was a heavily armoured warrior of the clan, he was known as a Pack Master, he was the head of the clan's heaviest elements, they were known as Fenrisson Juggernauts, massive armoured warriors who specialise in close combat and assault. They carry an assortment of deadly weapons. But the overall reason for having the Juggernauts around is because they can turn any melee into a one side slaughter for their opponents.

Name: Theo Varithas  
>Age: 25<br>Rank: Sargent Major  
>Position: Pack Master<p>

Bio: Theo was brought into the Bleeding Fangs clan from a third party clan, he had to prove himself worthy as a combatant and challenged as many as a dozen other males of the clan to hand to hand combat and succeeded in beating all but one individual, Arcticus. Since then he has stood at the side of Arcticus as the master of heavy combat.

Psych Profile: Theo has a history of aggression, but thanks to psychological therapy and helpful ingenuity of the UCAF in neural science, Theo has full control over his emotions and can keep himself from lashing out. He only utilizes his inner most rage and anger only when in the thickest of a fight to avoid accidently hitting his own clan men. Theo is an honourable man, but brash at times.

And the second last member of the Fenrission senior officers was a lean looking soldier, even though he was wearing enough plate armour to cover the length of the table they were sitting at. His class of warriors are known as Hunters, or Trackers, Acker knew that these men were brilliant snipers and hunters on many frontline worlds. This Fenrission in particular was a very silent looking man; he had his helmet attached by a magnetic clip while he sat with his arms crossed.

Name: Harrick Whitman  
>Age: 23<br>Rank: Lieutenant  
>Position: Pack Hunter<p>

Bio: Harrick comes from one of the highly regarded families of the Bleeding Fangs clan, he serves as a tactician for Arcticus as well as a specialist, and his years in the war have also honed his skills in assassinations and eliminations of high ranking Covenant leaders, officers, and specialists. His history in the war remains partially blank due to the sensitivity of his actions against the Covenant. ONI utilises him just as much as UCAF officers and senior clan members do.

Psych Profile: There is little or any known psych profile listed for Arcticus, being around as a specialist in assassination has supressed a good part of his emotions, usually sticking to just continuing on in the most efficient fashion. This had led to some issues with the clan in the past, which had left him at odds with some senior clan masters, aside from the highest ranking members.

And then there was the final member of the Bleeding Fangs, and probably the only one who looked the most comfortable at the meeting. His armour was covered in plenty of scars and burn marks as well as ornamentations, his face was equally as scarred and burnt, but what defined him was the large wolf's head he had for a helmet and the numerous ceremonial like additions to his armour.

Name: Dea'an Adrius  
>Age: 45<br>Rank: [Officially] Lieutenant Commander  
>Position: Medicine Man, Senior Medical Officer, [Fenrission] Shaman<p>

Bio: Dea'an is the only one of the few members of the Bleeding Fangs clan's senior shamans; he was assigned to join the expedition force under his orders, little is known about the reason behind his decision. He has a long service record to go with his title; he had fought at every major battle since the start of the war. Though commended on so many occasions he has refused to rise higher in rank, merely remaining a shaman to his kin.

Psych Profile: Dea'an is a caring person; wisdom is something he regards highly, and understanding is what he provides for the youngest clan members. His psychological stance is stable, if not slightly peculiar.

Dea'an gave Acker a thoughtful nod as he sat next to Arcticus, his role as a senior officer being fulfilled by advising the young Commander on anything he may need to know. Finally Acker managed to get to the final members of the relief force. This group was the literal icing on the proverbial cake, considering they were eating cakes. Well one member was.

The high classed Adepts were present on the corner of the table; their position was probably the most interesting. The Adepts usually never bother to send as many for just a few ships, but it seemed volunteers had come along to see what this universe was all about. The three members sat in their corner talking and munching on what looked like Scillian Cakes, where they got the mini cakes is beyond him, of course that was usually expected behaviour of the Adepts.

The Adepts looked around the room inquisitively, though they had long since disciplined themselves not to act like their younger kin, they still retained that slight inquisitive attitude which seems keen on learning as much as possible. They turned their heads to Acker as he looked at each one of them, he didn't doubt that they were probably probing his thoughts.

He ran through the records of each Adept member.  
>Name: Theon Valence<br>Age: Unknown  
>Rank: [Special] Tempest Class<br>Position: Tempest Order- Combat Specialist

Bio: Almost nothing is known about Theon aside from his extensive combat record during the Daedalus and Everest campaigns, but because of his specific nature, there is little know about him or any member of the Adepts in the UCAF. He has a flair for making flashy entrances in the most explosive way he can possibly do so without harming allies around him.

Psych Profile: [N/A]

Name: Valia Solanve  
>Age: 13,344<br>Rank: [Special] Vanguard Class  
>Position: Vanguard Order- Navigator<p>

Bio: Valia is by all descriptions of the Adepts a navigations specialist and researcher, she has been with the UCAF in developing a newer form of slip-space travel, better known as quantum slip-space, the research has since been taken over by other members. Since this dimensional rift opened, she decided to join out of curiosity.

Psych Profile: There is a little bit about Valia, her attitude is quite eccentric, which is normal considering she is still registered as an Adept, she will continue to probe into peoples work and minds when she does get slightly bored. The UCAF advises psychological specialists are to take caution whilst observing her.

Of course there was only one member that stood out between the Adepts, and that was their senior officer, of sorts.  
>Name: Elias Hexon<br>Age: Unknown  
>Rank: [Special] Advent Class<br>Position: Revenant Order- Combat Master

Bio: Little can be said about Elias, he first appeared during the Daedalus Campaigns and fought his way through a number of battles before disappearing under orders from the Advent Council, he reappeared not long ago and joined the forces heading to the Daedalus Campaign once more, but he was redirected to help with Acker's situation.

Psych Profile: Almost next to nothing is known about Elias, aside from his cold emotionless attitude, he serves only to search and destroy the Covenant.

And thus the whole list of current officers was concluded, and Acker felt like he had just run a mile in his own head. The list alone was long if he went into further details he felt like he'd be at it for hours, but enough with the review of each member. It was time to start their meeting.  
>"It's time we got this gathering underway, I don't believe we need any introductions do we?" He asked around the table.<p>

None of them seemed really interested in talking about one another at the moment, so he continued. "Our situation is quite simple, we're here to help eliminate the Covenant nothing more nothing less, though if the odd mission does come up, I'll ask either one of you to volunteer either a team or a task force to completing these tasks." He took a breather to allow any questions.

Valia was the first one, not surprisingly.  
>"Colonel Acker, as the current commander of this 'expedition', do you believe that sending us out." She gestured to herself and the other advanced human members. "Is it really a safe idea to send us out on certain assignments?" She asked.<p>

Acker already knew of what to do there.  
>"You're our only secret, the Council and the inhabitants of this galaxy have no idea you are currently part of this expedition, they don't even know you exist, which is something I intend to keep secret as long as possible."<p>

Valia nodded, she understood exactly what he meant. There were no other questions which allowed Acker to continue on with the next detail of this expedition.  
>"On the rare occasion we do run into trouble we cannot handle, a quantum buoy is to be deployed to alert the rest of us to send help. And also we need to learn as much about this universe as possible, our local inhabitants are already being categorised by Sienna, but for other records which aren't available on their network. I'd like each of you to dedicate an intelligence operative in recording anything they can find about certain information about the Council Races."<p>

"My, my being really cloak and dagger aren't you?" Gregory stated with a smirk while he twirled a combat knife on one of his fingers.

Acker had a feeling he was going to have to find a way to deal with the insubordinate Commander. He stated in kind. "Cloak and dagger is about as much as we're going to get around here, the Council as much as they are alien, have politics to nail us down, and I'd rather not get caught off guard and forced into a serious political corner. Getting the inhabitants of this galaxy to hate us is one thing the Council is undoubtedly trying to accomplish."

"Due to us being the very thing they aren't?" Valia finished his sentence.

He hated when psychics did that to him. But he nodded and continued.  
>"Yes, that's the reason, but also we pose the greatest threat to their power at the moment and it'll only worsen thanks to the chain of events I've set into motion. But there's still the need to deal with the Covenant, it'd be easier to deal with them if the locals had the ability to defend themselves more effectively. It'd help pin them down and allow us to wipe them out."<p>

"Yes, which is why you brought us in right?" Theon asked with a grin.

He knew that this was going to get tiresome within the next week; he just hoped he could assign some other officer to deal with the all-powerful trio; he really did not need them interrupting every time he was trying to talk. "Yes, that's why I brought you in, because you can sense their slip-space fields, alert us when they plan to attack, and get us there immediately."

"So you're trying to draw the Covenant out and wear them down using the locals to soften them up for us?" Alexi theorised.

"That's one way of dealing with them, but not the overall scheme of things, at the moment the UCAF HIGH COM wants us to investigate another matter regarding something to do with a Spec Ops team which went mission some months ago. They had knowledge of something of very critical intelligence, whatever they know, the Covenant are after it.

"So the other part of this is to capture a Covenant vessel which possesses the info about what their objective is located?" Kiel inquired.

"Yes, though it will take some time to locate such a vessel, we're talking about dozens of ships, not to mention a hell of a lot more on the way." Acker replied with a bit of concern of the incoming crusade force.

"Well isn't that lovely, a Covenant crusade force to add to our already stacking level of problems." Malak stated with a slight tone of pessimism.

"Don't concern yourself with such dire thoughts; we shall be the ones to meet the Covenant horde." Arcticus stated adamantly and confidently.

"I have no doubt of that." Acker said with a slight smile.

"If it's alright with you, who'll be intercepting the Covenant the most?" Foster asked as he carefully eyed the others at the table.

Acker knew that he was going to have to decide who was to engage the Covenant forces when they begin their campaign of genocide. "That'll depend, we'll have a vote soon enough to determine who'll be going off to fight the Covenant assaults, two forces will be deployed at any given time, due to our need to search for the location of their core fleet." He said as he looked around the table.

He was left with a wide variety of options for the coming battles. But before they could do anything, Sienna materialised before them and she had a very worried look.  
>"Sir, I have something urgent." She said clearly.<p>

"What is it?" Acker inquired immediately.

Sienna replied in a serious tone. "It's Lieutenant Autumn, he's sending out a distress beacon, it's from the Quarians Migrant Fleet, they're under attack…"

XXXXX

Location: Migrant Fleet- Rayya- Sorodo

There was less than a day left before the 'Tyrant' and the support ships arrived, but of course things didn't turn out exactly as planned. It was during the night; well what could be seen as night on a ship the size of the Sorodo, but what occurred was much more exciting that was for sure. Autumn was on the bridge of the Sorodo prior to the attack.

He was there to talk with Dar'ea when things went straight to hell. The initial assault began when Dar'ea worked on getting some paperwork done; they were in the midst of talking about what they planned to do once the UCAF fleet arrived. The ships which attacked came from seemingly nowhere, they were disguised as freighters in the fleet, but they accelerated straight to the Rayya once they got into sensor range.

Dar'ea initially thought it was pilot error but Autumn knew better, the ships were on a collision course an intentional one at that. The defences of the Rayya couldn't stop the freighter from ramming into the lower belly of the liveship before further impacts from other vessels and objects occurred.

"What the hell's going on?" Autumn inquired with a serious tone.

"No idea, we've lost communications to the Rayya." Dar'ea stated.

The whole fleet became active as the crisis unfolded. But there was one thing that Autumn knew and that was no accident, whoever rammed those ships into the Rayya knew exactly where to aim it. It was then a burst of communications came from the Rayya.  
>"This is Kal'reegar Quarian marines; we've got hostiles who've breached the Rayya, requesting assistance from all available security members!" The marine shouted over the coms.<p>

Dar'ea inquired. "Who's attacking?"

Kal shouted in response. "Geth!"

XXXXX

Votes: Divide and Conquer!

Here is the new set of options: You have the choice to deploy 2 forces to counter any Covenant assault which is launched on Council worlds. Each force will not be able to interact much with the main story, aside from gaining reputation with the inhabitants of the galaxy and recovering intelligence for the UCAF to locate the Covenant's main base of operations.

Remember! The available forces have their own strengths and weaknesses which will affect the story as it progresses.

This will also extend to other assignments, but that'll become available next chapter.  
>So here are your choices:<p>

[Marines]  
>Numbers and resources, 15,000+ personnel available, large deployment, limited in aerial support<p>

Speciality: Urban warfare, planetary assault, night time operations.

[Helldivers]  
>Limited numbers, greater speed, experience, skill, cybernetic enhancements, genetic enhancements, limited armour support, limited aerial support<p>

Speciality: Planetary assault, anti-infantry, anti-armour

[Bleeding Fangs]  
>Limited numbers, advanced power armour, genetic enhancements, limited aerial support, no armour support<p>

Speciality: Anti-armour, anti-infantry, CQC

Total votes will be concluded by the end of next week, and then we'll see how things play out. Also there are more votes which will appear in the separate story sections for the forces deployed that'll come later though.

XXXXX

AN: Psychics are now available!

Codex: Psychics (ONI Ref)

The UCAF uses of psychics are highly common, if not limited thanks to the UCAF and ONI, psychic members of the UCAF are usually kept within a certain region called the Psions region, a large area which is cordoned off by the HIGH COM and the ONI thanks to the sensitivity of knowledge that the members of this version of humanity can accidently gleam from someone's mind.

Psions are relatively progressive people but are all highly powerful psychics, the research done in their region suggests that they were an experimental variation of Adepts, a highly advanced version of humanity, but not quite advanced to quantum levels. The UCAF decided to avoid trying to cause a situation by steering clear of their space.

Only a few members of the Psions ever join the UCAF and their bloodlines are usually monitored thanks to the risk of further unwarranted psychic births amongst the human population. This process has been going on for nearly 14,000 years, the rare case of a random encounter with an unregistered psychic is very unusual. The ONI decided to enact a strict policy of keeping psychics at a minimum till further understanding can be gained.

It is known that psychics do exist within the UCAF, and their forces are reserved from other UCAF military divisions unless a situation requires their presence.

XXXXXX

AN: Also I nearly forgot to add, yes I'm going to change the name for our wolf like members back to just Fenrisson and their heritage being something like Vikings, though I'd like to add that there is probably going to be a lot more to add to their story thanks to that change.

AN: A ton of new stories coming out.

Halo/Stargate SG-1 crossover is now available, its rated T for now, but it will change within the next few chapters. Oh by the way, if you're reading this, then the fic was just posted now and you may have to wait a few minutes for it to become available to read so be a little patient before checking.

Halo/Star Trek DS9, this crossover is a relatively short story, it was an idea I had and decided to pursue it, and it will be just a crossover which will have a lot of different themes. This is also going to launch as soon as I can post it.

Warcraft, standalone story which will be a bit of a modern world meeting fantasy fic, I've only seen one other of this kind which was about 30,000 words and nothing else. So I thought I could give it a try.

Halo AU/ Halo, this is a crossover in itself, my halo alternate universe will cross into the canon universe for this part, so you'll probably see a very different outcome to the whole series. And it will go into Halo 4, but I haven't determined how the main story should play out.

Zombies in Mass Effect, sort of a crossover to RE, though this is more a survival kind of story which is going to be about the spread of a mysterious disease which creates un-dead entities which go around and kill everyone, a lot of thought has been put into this. I still need OCs for this though to add unfortunate survivors amongst the main cast.

Gundam Drowtales, crossover, it will be based on the Web-manga, but with a lot of differences, if you don't know what Drowtales is, go Google it; it's a pretty impressive series which has been around for a long time.

Halo Drowtales, this is a work in progress; it is going to be the largest story I've ever attempted to do. Considering the first chapter alone is 30,000 words, uh this may take much longer to produce so please wait on this.

Halo Warcraft, this crossover is also a work in progress, but I've nailed a good chunk of the characters I intend to include and how things are going to play out, however, I do need help from whoever played or plays WOW on current and past lore, the wiki is terrible at being accurate with the lore, and I have no idea what quests go along with the actual main story.

Red Vs Blue Warcraft, this crossover came to me out of the blue when I thought about the easter egg with Griff, I decided to chuck in some crazy nutjob plot to throw the cast into which rapidly spirals into chaos across the entire world. Also this has coincided with my Halo and WoW fic, which I thought it would be interesting but cut this section out to become a separate story.

Dead Space Stargate, a really intricate piece of work I've been playing with, it came up as a thought, but then I decided why not try to make it dark and equally grim? So now I've gotten 5,000 words into this idea for a very dark and messy story. Lots of things dying and horrors of all kinds faced by SG-1 that sums it up. Also this isn't going to launch for a while.

So there's that, the whole lot of stories which I have continued to create since the holidays, but I haven't a clue when most of them will be ready since I don't have many beta readers to go over what I've written. Which is another thing I'd like to address, there are still plenty of spots to help, or at least give opinion of if you decide to join in as a beta reader, it tends to help move the production of chapters and new fics along.


End file.
